Timing rattle on cold start?

[19Zen]

Hey guys,

I've noticed as the weathers become colder that I have a rattle/chattering sound on idle from behind the timing cover on cold starts, as soon as the engines warm the noise reliably disappears. The engine runs nice and smoothly, my only thought is that it's the dephaser pulley as I had the timing belt and water pump changed last year without the dephaser.

I've had a search around forums and can't pinpoint anything, just thought I'd ask as this is the most active/knowledgeable place regarding the Mk3 RS.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

 

[Phenom]

I would also vote on the dephaser if you had timing etc done but not the dephaser. seen a couple threads about here and maybe cliosport talking about a rattle from a dephaser.

Someone more knowledgeable might be able to shed more light on it though

 

[lewishunter98]

Supposedly the 197/200 dephasers don't suffer from the issues that the 1*2's did! Though saying that I wouldn't rule it out completely

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

 

[19Zen]

Supposedly the 197/200 dephasers don't suffer from the issues that the 1*2's did! Though saying that I wouldn't rule it out completely

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

The main reason I didn’t change the dephaser is reading that it’s not prone to issues like the 172/182. It does sound like it’s from the top of the timing area but could be the sound bouncing, I’ll keep an ear on it and remove the cover when I have the time to try and confirm.

I came across this post which made me wonder whether it could’ve been the aftermarket camshaft sensor I fitted affecting the valve timing on startup. The parts box was marked with a Renault symbol although the head of the sensor was slightly different, similar to this Bosch sensor. I swapped for the original sensor and it still made the noise on startup, although perhaps it would need a few starts and some running for the ECU to relearn if there is any difference between the sensors.

 

[Dn197]

Hi Guys,
My 197 had the same issue, seemed to happen only when the car was parked nose down (even slightly) but only ever happened for a second or two then the car was fine. Also didn't seem to affect power at all.

Just had the belts done two weeks ago with a new dephaser and noise is totally gone. This noise is coming from the dephaser.