Tuesday, September 4, 2007

 I've developed a rather annoying rattle under the hood.  It could be a bearing in the alternator or another accessory.  The rattle starts at idle and sounds like someone sticking a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle.  If you give the TA gas, the rattle goes away at anything above 1800 RPM or during the adding of power / throttle.  Once the engine RPM falls below 1800 RPM, the rattle returns.  Since the rattle doesn't increase with engine RPM, I believe that the problem is either something loose under the hood or an accessory / belt about to give up the ghost.  I'll look at it Saturday morning.  I still need to look for one or two pieces of the rear interior panels as mine have been faded and destroyed by the sun (the carpet has faded as well which is why I'm going to go ahead and redo the interior).  I've got a line on a few sets of replacement panels (the one behind the driver's side seat can literally be scraped apart with your fingernail, it has become that brittle with UV exposure over the last two decades.