Damn! You are describing what I hear....
The noise is loud during idle and bad when I start it up on a cold day.
I'm not to the backing up gear noise yet, but it is slowly getting worse.
I want to record the sound and post it to PhotoBucket or ImageShack as
an mp3 file so folks can listen to it and tell if I am being too critical or what.
The more I know about a car, the worst I am about listening for odd noises !
I can't seem to relax - I am always thinking I hear something grinding or knocking.
It makes me crazy.
When I first ran my engine after rebuilding it - LORD ! I thought I was hearing
each part I worked on breaking or grinding....
If I was an airplane pilot, I'd probably be insane now...listening for the engine
to fail. After all, up there an odd noise can kill you - can't pull over and call AAA.
I'll try to find my microphone - I have an old tape recorder. My kids farted with
it and now I can't find squat anymore.
My little solid state RCA digital recorder doesn't seem to pick up sounds as well as tape does....
maybe if I use an external mic (?)
DoctorBill