ACK! What the heck is that sloshing noise?!?

[BD]

I have an '02 WRX Wagon, 26000 miles. (I'm in Canada, so I say it has
42000 km).

Anyhoo.

I'm heading in for servicing this weekend because I'm a little
concerned about oil consumption. I also want to have a rattling noise
taken care of - something under the right side of the dash rattles when
the car is at really low rpms - idling below 1000, or occasionally as
the motor lugs a bit as I pull out into first. This noise doesn't
happen _all_ the time, but I'd say 80% of the time. I'm sure it's
nothing serious; it's just annoying.

I drove into work this morning, and after I killed the motor I thought
I'd fire it up again and check for the noise. I started the motor,
turned off the stereo and fan, and let the motor idle. I heard the
rattle, as expected. But then I revved up to 2000, and heard this
bizarre sloshing sound! Sounded like it was about a foot or so behind
the center of the dash. Could that have just been fluids thrashing
around as the motor revved up? After a couple of revs it stopped. I
have heard that kind of sound before, but not quite that loud.

Anyone know what that's likely to be? I have read posts that sloshing
noises could mean a blown head gasket. Spooky.

Thanks for any comments!

Cheers,

Doug W.

 

[mulder]

I have an '02 WRX Wagon, 26000 miles. (I'm in Canada, so I say it has
42000 km).

Anyhoo.

I'm heading in for servicing this weekend because I'm a little
concerned about oil consumption. I also want to have a rattling noise
taken care of - something under the right side of the dash rattles when
the car is at really low rpms - idling below 1000, or occasionally as
the motor lugs a bit as I pull out into first. This noise doesn't
happen _all_ the time, but I'd say 80% of the time. I'm sure it's
nothing serious; it's just annoying.

I drove into work this morning, and after I killed the motor I thought
I'd fire it up again and check for the noise. I started the motor,
turned off the stereo and fan, and let the motor idle. I heard the
rattle, as expected. But then I revved up to 2000, and heard this
bizarre sloshing sound! Sounded like it was about a foot or so behind
the center of the dash. Could that have just been fluids thrashing
around as the motor revved up? After a couple of revs it stopped. I
have heard that kind of sound before, but not quite that loud.

Anyone know what that's likely to be? I have read posts that sloshing
noises could mean a blown head gasket. Spooky.

Thanks for any comments!

Cheers,

Doug W.

Sounds like coolant circulating through the heater core, which is
right at the location you indicated. Probably nothing to worry about
as long as it didn't persist. There could be some air in the cooling
system, has it been serviced recently? Trapped air is a known issue
with the early WRX's.
The rattle could be a loose heat shield.

 

[BD]

There could be some air in the cooling system, has it been serviced recently?

No, I'm due for my next service now, and am going in on Saturday.

The heat shield idea sounds familiar. This is something that was
happening last year - they sorted it out, but apparently not all that
well. Too bad I'm not much of a DIY car owner, or I'd be in there
sorting it out myself.

 

[Body Roll]

No, I'm due for my next service now, and am going in on Saturday.

The heat shield idea sounds familiar. This is something that was
happening last year - they sorted it out, but apparently not all that
well. Too bad I'm not much of a DIY car owner, or I'd be in there
sorting it out myself.

Maybe that's for the better. I was swapping the rear anti sway bar for
20mm one from
WRX sedan the other day just to discover that I have to cut the 12mm
sway bar bushings
to fit the new swaybar. Well, I ordered the new bushings to fit the new
bar better just
to find out that the parts guy ordered the 16mm bushings for the wagon
instead of the 19mm ones for the sedan. Duh. Well, anyhow, I modified
those and as I was replacing the 12mm ones I
noticed that I'm missing the bolt that connects the sway bar to the
endlinks!!!
Apparently I either should've blue loctited the nut or applied more
torque when I was installing the
new swaybar.
So no matter how a simple a job looks like there is always an
opportunity to screwup.
Better leave that to a professional mechanic. Oh, sorry, automotive
technician

 

[BD]

Better leave that to a professional mechanic.

Yeah - I tend to be a 'bodger' - so in my case I'd likely be in there
looking for places I can jam some epoxy or expanding foam in between
the heat shield and whatever it's rattling against to shut it up.
Probably not prudent.

 

[mulder]

Yeah - I tend to be a 'bodger' - so in my case I'd likely be in there
looking for places I can jam some epoxy or expanding foam in between
the heat shield and whatever it's rattling against to shut it up.
Probably not prudent.

No, not prudent given that the heat shield is part of the exhaust and
reaches a temperature of many hundreds of degrees. Not a place to use
foam or other flammable materials.

 

[Body Roll]

Yeah - I tend to be a 'bodger' - so in my case I'd likely be in there
looking for places I can jam some epoxy or expanding foam in between
the heat shield and whatever it's rattling against to shut it up.
Probably not prudent.

Maybe there are some heat resistant varieties of Be-quiet/Dynamat that
are available to the general public? But, obviously, you need to find
the
root cause first.

 

[BD]

you need to find the root cause first.

And since this has been fixed once already, I'll ask for a clear
explanation so that if it's required again, I'll know off the top of my
head what's wrong.