Just recently my car started making an unfamiliar noise. First off I have a 93 Base model 3.0L Stealth, SOHC engine, non-interference. It has 110,000 miles on it and needs new valve seals I believe. It is completely stock except for a testpipe that replaces the cat. converter.

I went to get in my car one night to go do laundry and started it up. It started fine, but as soon as it did, I heard a faint noise...it sounds like a ratteling noise kind of, maybe like a loose pully or something, but the pully's look/feel tight and straight. It stays constant while idleing, and increases in speed as you accelerate, but not in volume of noise. It is somewhat faint, as I could barelly hear it with my door shut and window up. The car starts and runs like normal, but I still haven't drove it since I noticed the noise except to go a half mile down the road to see if it ran. I didn't want to further complicate the repairs. Any help in pin-pointing what this could possibly be would be appreciated.

I have had one friend say it might be the timing belt getting ready to go out, and another say it may be the injectors, and another say a pully thats connected to the cam. I have only had the car for about a year and haven't got that deep into the engine yet, so I'm still somewhat clueless.

Thanks in advance for any tips/help.

 

Do you have any idea if and when the 60K service was done?? It very well could be the idler/tensioner going bad, or even the water pump bearings chattering. With that said, you are very close to needing the 120k service done, it might not be a bad idea to perform the appropriate servicing now...especially if you do not know the history of the car.

It could also very well be lifter tick. I'm not sure if the SOHC engine is as prone to ticking as the DOHC, but I do know the lifters are the same between engine models. Try this, slow rev the engine to 3000 rpms, hold it there, see if the noise goes away. You may have to repeat a couple of times. If the noise does go away, it is lifter tick, a very common issue with these cars. More of a nuisance than anything, but won't harm the engine.

 

It isn't the lifter tick, I know what that sounds like, and that it is a nuiscance with these cars. However, I am not sure if the car had it's 60k tune up, when I got it it already had 80k miles on it, however i changed plugs/wires/belts/battery/starter/and oil the day after I got it to be on the safer side.

If it is in need of it's 120k tune up, how would I go about that? What needs to be done to it, and are there any websites that might sell packs/parts for this tune up?

Thanks.

 

For a 120K service, the timing belt, water pump, t-belt idlers and tensioner, accessory belt tensioners and idler pulleys all need replaced. The plugs/wires/accessory belts all should still be fine.

I but these types of parts from Rockville Mitsubishi. They have pretty good prices, for a dealership, and are knowledgable about the platform.