Ok, so we have a 97 Nissan Quest and it recently started making a knocking noise. We can pinpoint the noise down to somewhere around the belts on the passenger's side of the engine. The knocking is sometimes accompanied by a metal scraping noise. After you get over 45mph, the knocking/scraping stops. Also, the noise stops randomly while driving. It will stop from anywhere between 15 seconds and 5 minutes and then resume. Anybody have any clues as to what this could be? Anything we could try at home? We are currently about 200 miles away from our regular mechanic and if we could try and at least get out some possibilities of what it could be before deciding upon a mechanic down here then that would be great. Thanks in advance!

9/12/2007 9:55:56 PM

Those things were horrible about exhaust leaks, but it sounds like you have a peace noise.

9/12/2007 10:23:52 PM

diagnosing noises on the internet is like shooting at things in the dark. could you describe it a little better? high pitched/low pitched? loud/soft?

off hand, i'd hazard a guess at an accessory bearing since you mentioned it's on the passenger side (if memory serves that's the way those are pointed in quests), and goes away for minutes at a time. hell, could be a timing chain too...

you could also possibly be hearing something as bad as a rod knock on one of the front cylinders. that's generally a pretty consistent noise though. does it seem affected by throttle input or no?

9/12/2007 10:28:04 PM

I guess I would describe it as more of a high pitch knocking. I guess it's kind of like a clanging sound. It's also pretty loud. You can hear it while driving down the road with the windows up and the air on. Throttle input causes the sound to get faster, but the sound still exists even when the van is sitting in park.

[Edited on September 12, 2007 at 11:22 PM. Reason : sdf]

9/12/2007 11:22:16 PM

yeah, that didn't help me much. my original guesses still stand. accessory bearing or timing chain.

my best advice is to take it by a shop or better a nissan dealer. just explain to them you're 200 miles from home, and would like for someone to take a quick listen to it. any mechanic worth a damn should immediately be able to identify if it's something that needs immediate attention or not. most places won't charge you just for that.

9/12/2007 11:27:45 PM

peace noise, hands down.

9/12/2007 11:28:59 PM

Okay, thanks! We're probably going to call around tomorrow and see who would listen to it for us.

9/12/2007 11:32:52 PM

Quote :

"Hey, what exactly is a peace noise?"

Its the noise that is made when your car "peacefully" goes from a regular vehicle to a "peace" of shit (rather than going that route by way of some catastrophic failure).

9/12/2007 11:37:43 PM

yeah, we're getting rid of it asap but we just need it to make it a little longer...at least a couple more weeks.

9/12/2007 11:40:54 PM

^if you only need a couple more weeks just make sure there is oil in there and dont worry about it.

9/13/2007 9:25:24 AM

yeah, it'd be great if it would last longer than a couple of weeks, but we will have another vehicle by then. So, ideally, we would like to have the van until the first of the year, but if it breaks it's no big deal. Therefore, if it's something simple (read: cheap) to fix, then we will probably get it fixed, but if it's something more expensive, then we will probably let it go.

9/13/2007 6:23:23 PM

puts some marvel mystery oil in that unit or some lucas. then put up for sale. profit

9/13/2007 7:29:48 PM

update: we were driving home about two weeks ago and two belts shredded...

it needs:

two belts replaced
a pulley replaced
a new water pump
the front axel replaced (old problem we already knew about)

According to our mechanic, the "knocking" was narrowed down to either being the bad pulley or the water pump.

it's gonna cost $700-$1000 to repair, but we're not getting it repaired. We're hoping to sell it, but it not being driveable is quite a kick in the ass in that department.

10/5/2007 10:05:29 AM

Park it at the bottom of the Kaplan bat turn right by my house, maintain insurance coverage, wait, wait, screeech (crunch).

10/5/2007 10:19:06 AM

btw, if anyone is looking for a broken down van, I'm taking price bids...I will consider anything over $500. It's actually parked at our mechanic's shop, so if you wanted to get it fixed, you wont have to get it towed

[Edited on October 6, 2007 at 8:52 PM. Reason : asdf]

10/6/2007 8:51:40 PM

The van, running, would only be worth about what your repairs were quoted at. So just donate it to the kidney foundation.

10/7/2007 6:57:11 PM

no, actually kbb lists it at 2700 in fair condition

10/7/2007 7:17:25 PM

from what you have posted, its far from fair condition.

10/7/2007 7:36:11 PM

it needs $700-$1000 of work...that still places it worth more than you said. If I were to subtract $1000 from kbb for repairs and list it under "fair" condition, that would still put it at being worth $1700. Again, I am not expecting to get nearly that much for it, but I'm just saying, it'd be worth fixing for someone who was interested.

10/7/2007 10:20:46 PM