Noise under the hood

[blindeyed]

Alright, here's my problem. Sometimes, when I accelerate, briefly I will hear a sound that sounds like a... can filled with change being shaken, that's the only way I can think of how to describe it. It occurs around 2 to 3 thousand RPM, and only does it when my engine is warm. When I first start my car and take it out for a ride, it never does it. And another problem is that sometimes I will get some white smoke coming out from my exhaust after I start my car. Anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong?

[FormulaLT1]

Do you know if it sounds like its coming from your heads?. Does it only do it when its in gear or will it do it in Neutral or park as well?

[blindeyed]

Originally Posted by FormulaLT1

Do you know if it sounds like its coming from your heads?. Does it only do it when its in gear or will it do it in Neutral or park as well?

Um, I'm not sure if it's coming from the heads or not. And yeah, I forgot to mention that it only does it while in drive.

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by blindxeyed

Alright, here's my problem. Sometimes, when I accelerate, briefly I will hear a sound that sounds like a... can filled with change being shaken, that's the only way I can think of how to describe it. It occurs around 2 to 3 thousand RPM, and only does it when my engine is warm. When I first start my car and take it out for a ride, it never does it. And another problem is that sometimes I will get some white smoke coming out from my exhaust after I start my car. Anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong?

the white smoke coming from your exhaust after you start your car is most likely just moisture trapped in your exhaust that burns off ones the exhaust warms up, as far as the noise is concerned, could be that you are using wrong gas, to low of octane or your ignition is a little off or a combination of both given you engine knock, ping...

[blindeyed]

Originally Posted by volkerc

the white smoke coming from your exhaust after you start your car is most likely just moisture trapped in your exhaust that burns off ones the exhaust warms up, as far as the noise is concerned, could be that you are using wrong gas, to low of octane or your ignition is a little off or a combination of both given you engine knock, ping...

Why would there be moisture in my exhaust? Is it really a problem I should tend to immediately or anything? And as for the noise.. would you consider my timing to be off even if it sometiems doesn't make the noise and sounds fine? I would try a higher octane gas (I use regular) if it weren't so expensive.

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by blindxeyed

Why would there be moisture in my exhaust? Is it really a problem I should tend to immediately or anything? And as for the noise.. would you consider my timing to be off even if it sometiems doesn't make the noise and sounds fine? I would try a higher octane gas (I use regular) if it weren't so expensive.

moisture will always build up in the exhaust depending on the climate, lets say you drove your car, parked it outside overnight and the outside temperature dropped the cooling of the warm exhaust will leave some moisture in the mufflers...so many other possibilities, which i will not list, it is just natural, if you lose a lot of coolant, and you see white smoke in normal temperature (not when it's cold outside) then you might have a problem, but I assume you don't, as to the gas, check what type of gas the manufacturer recommends, if you don't use it yet, USE IT!. If you happen to use the correct gas already, then check your ignition....

[86TA]

what year is it and is it a v6 or a v8? check and see if its your heat shield... thats a common problem, expecially among the 3.4l V6's from 93-97 (for some reason the worst on 95's) and usually on the passanger side manifold... sometimes it can be tightened down and fixed, and sometimes not... dont know why it happens or what makes the differance as to wheather it will fix it or not, but i would start there befor anything else... if it fixes it for a while, then starts up again - i wouldnt wreck my brain over it man... its nothing major unless the thing is totally loose and floping around in there, lol, which im sure its not or you would really know it... let us know if you figure it out... and good luck
-Dusty

[cooltc2004]

LT1's need Premium Gas (92-95 octane). 3.1-3.8 can use Regular, and LS1, I am not sure about

[Mr. Luos]

Originally Posted by cooltc2004

LT1's need Premium Gas (92-95 octane). 3.1-3.8 can use Regular, and LS1, I am not sure about

LS1 requires premium.

How does the car run when it is making said sound?

[blindeyed]

Originally Posted by 86TA

what year is it and is it a v6 or a v8? check and see if its your heat shield... thats a common problem, expecially among the 3.4l V6's from 93-97 (for some reason the worst on 95's) and usually on the passanger side manifold... sometimes it can be tightened down and fixed, and sometimes not... dont know why it happens or what makes the differance as to wheather it will fix it or not, but i would start there befor anything else... if it fixes it for a while, then starts up again - i wouldnt wreck my brain over it man... its nothing major unless the thing is totally loose and floping around in there, lol, which im sure its not or you would really know it... let us know if you figure it out... and good luck
-Dusty

Yeah it's a 95 3.4L V6. But um, what exactly is a heat shield now?

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by blindxeyed

Yeah it's a 95 3.4L V6. But um, what exactly is a heat shield now?

a heat shield is a piece of metal that sits between the body and exhaust to keep heat from the exhaust away from the inside compartment, usually to be found at the catalytic convertor and mufflers

[blindeyed]

Originally Posted by Mr. Luos

LS1 requires premium.

How does the car run when it is making said sound?

It runs perfectly fine, you wouldn't even think there was a problem with it at all.

[blindeyed]

I'm now currently using premium gas, and I'm still hearing the noise. So tomorrow on my day off, I'll take a look at the heat shield and see if that might be the cause. Thanks alot for all the help so far.