"Jingling" noise when in gear...

[riproaringca]

Here's a question that I've never bothered to ask before now. It has happened with my 97 Sable and now with my 99 Taurus:

When I put my car in a forward gear I can hear a light 'jingling' sound coming from under the hood. I suspect it's a common occurrence since it's been on two of my Ford cars which are similar in style/components.
Anyone else experiencing the same thing? (If not, listen a little more closely.)

Each car runs fine and the sound doesn't seem to get worse as it's driven. I can only hear it when the car's in gear and I'm pulling out of a parking spot with the brakes being released slowly.

It'll be interesting to see what responses come back!

[shorod]

Are you positive the noise is from under the hood and not just under the car? The description of "jingling" sounds pretty similar to the sound you would hear due to a catalytic converter heat shield that's loose. It's a pretty common issue for one or more of the welds holding the heat shield to break. You'd probably also hear it with the car in park if you were to slowly increase the engine speed to around 1500 - 2000 rpms.

-Rod

[riproaringca]

Hey, Rod.

I know the sound of that heat shield coming loose. It happened on the Sable a few years back. That was a nasty rattle.

No, this sound is more like a couple of keys jingling together. I'll take a closer look/listen but I suspect it's in the area of the idler puller or tensioner. It's hard to pinpoint via behaviour as the car runs fine.

[shorod]

If you're pretty sure it's from the tensioner or idler pulley, remove the belt and spin the pulleys by hand. If the bearings are worn in one you will be able to hear and feel it when spinning it by hand.

-Rod

[ahsniff]

my 2001 taurus also has this issue. i can only hear it when passing by an object such as a curb or a parked car where the sound can rebound through my open window. It is just like keys jingling. As it doesn't seem to affect the operation of the car as of yet i have ignored it and trumped it up to the 140k that is on the car but it would be nice to know what it is

[shorod]

If the problem is one of the pulleys, it will eventually leave you stranded unless you are one of the lucky ones that have it fail as soon as you start the vehicle, which is pretty rare.

-Rod

[ahsniff]

if it is the heatshield is this something that has to be fixed or is it something that just kinda happens and isn't a big deal. the sound i'm getting is definetly from underneath and not very loud at all just a soft jingling

[shorod]

If it's the headshield you really should fix it before the other welds break and you lose the shield. The catalytic converters generate a lot of heat and a missing heatshield can cause fires if you park over a pile of leaves, etc. The typical fix is to get a couple of really large (~12 inch diameter) hose clamps and place them over the converter and heat shields to hold them in place.

-Rod

[tkeys2]

I had that same noise problem on my 97 taurus. It would be louder in drive but in park it would quiet dwn. And in my car it was mounts...2 motor and 1 trans.

[ahsniff]

thanks for the tip rod. as for the motor mounts i had my two rear motor mounts replaced last year because the rubber was worn away and it was just rattling around. gonna have to check the trans though thanks