1998 Chevy Tahoe LT

I have a ‘98 Chevy Tahoe LT with a 5.7 Vortec V8. I’m having an issue with my engine rattling pretty loud when accelerating under load. I took it to my shop and they said they’ve heard that same sound before with these vortec V8s and have never been able to solve the problem. My initial thought was that it was spark knock? Let me know if any of y’all have had the same issue and how it was solved.

-Zack

Welcome to AF. And what sound would this be? Rattling is to vague. What is your shop suggesting?

Can you duplicate it with the brakes set, in gear and giving it throttle? In other words put it under load standing still.

I’d compare it maybe a rock in a metal can. The rattle intervals increase and decrease with rpm. My shop just said to drive it. They said they’ve seen people drive with the rattle for over 100,000 miles. It’s just strange to me because the car ran great (only 138000mi) and then it randomly started. Only thing I can think of that triggered it was that I drove through a puddle not seconds before it started rattling. This was a relatively small puddle, so I can’t imagine any water would have reached the intake.

As for throttling it when the brakes engaged, I have not tried to reproduce the sound that way yet.

Thanks guys