Skoda Rapid 1.2 TSI CBZA - vibrating, gurgling, grinding noise from engine.

[Koreenium]

So recently I was cleaning my cars interior and I let it idle for an hour. No overheating or anything like that. Then I drove a bit and suddenly I got quite loud grinding noise from the engine bay. I stopped but could not see anything wrong. I drove home and left the car to sit over night. Next day when I got back, it no longer made any odd noises after cold start. But once it warmed up, it started making noises again. It would come and go over the days.

 

I have noted several times how it seemed to sound fine until the engine warms up and the blue coolant light or whatever it is goes off, after which it starts making these noises. Other times I get to drive few hundred meters before it starts making noise. Engine also seems to start vibrating more than usual at the same time these noises appear. On a warmer day engine seems to vibrate from the start. Engine and transmission mounts seem fine.

There are no misfires but I can hear louder tapping noises from the tappets. I used stethoscope and only odd thing I could hear from the top of the engine was somewhat louder tapping noise from cylinder 3. Also I get rougher exhaust noise than usual. I had p0141 code for "o2 Sensor Heater Circ. Bank 1 Sensor 2 Malfunction" but it quickly archived itself and has not come back. It probably came after I accelerated hard to 4000rpm and engine hesitated for a second. Happened before the grinding sound incident.

 

Timing chain does not seem to make any noise. But I can hear some of the noise coming from the passenger side of the engine. It seems to be coming from the back side. I checked accessory belt drive and everything was fine. I checked water pump and it looked fine but it had noticeable axial play so I replaced it but nothing.

 

I tried recording sounds when driving as it's best heard then but I could not capture everything as well as I hoped. If you listen to the "Rapid_Engine_Noise_01" from the attachments then at 0:03 you can hear one of the vibrating noises when I am starting to move as I press accelerator and slowly release clutch. I can't pinpoint the location of this noise but it's clearly from the engine. Then at 0:10 when accelerating you can start hearing how the engine vibrates. 0:16 Engine vibration is quite obvious.

 

But the main noise that is usually inaudible when engine is cold and is also hard to describe. It's audible in person but not so much on a recording. In recording "Rapid_Engine_Noise_02" you can sort of make out this noise as it goes up and comes down with the engine rpm. Usually when riving you can hear it best at a slight acceleration and when you let go of the accelerator then it stops or quiets down for a moment. In person it sound as grindy gurgling, rumbling? noise.

 

I'm going to be doing an oil change so I might drop the oil pan to get a better looks at the oil pump. Also might check out the camshaft and intake manifold before the engine completely destroys itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rapid_Engine_Noise_01.mp3 Rapid_Engine_Noise_02.mp3

[inspectorman]

These engines had significant timing chain issues from new. Yours is young enough to be built after the major revision at the end of 2011 but the revised engine also had timing chain wear issues.

 

Plenty of info here  - most of the early pages relate to the 2011 and earlier engines but some useful information on the post 2011 engines later in this thread.

 

 

[Koreenium]

Mine is 2014. And I'm aware of timing chain issues. My car has 262 000km and it has a third timing chain, last changed at 234 000km. No timing chain rattle. But I don't know whether the oil pumps chain has been changed.

[Koreenium]

Ok, so the oil pump chain is really loose.

 

 

[Koreenium]

I replaced the oil pump chain and gears, still just as loose.

 

I did find out that oil separator was clogged up pretty good. There was around 1cm of gunk on the bottom.