What are my options??

[217gsr]

The wobbling issues that I've been having may have to be put on the back burner for a while. I think I might have larger problems.

Last night, while I was driving home, my car developed a new noise!! This one sound is a rattling, coming from the front half of the car. When I came to a stop, the rpms seemed a little higher than normal (~1300 rpms). They eventually came down though. I thought it was the exhaust, since earlier yesterday, I replaced the donut gasket in between the header and cat. But even after I tightened down the bolts, the noise did not go away.

The ideas that I am throwing around now are:

1. blower
2. valvetrain (something with the valves)

The noise is loudest at idle, and seems to get less noisy when the car is being driven, even less noisy if I am boosting (weird!!). But as far as loudness. . . it's PRETTY LOUD. I can feel a vibration coming from the gas pedal also.

Acura still has my car right now. But the first thing I'm gonna do when I get it home is check to see if it's the supercharger.

If I pull off the supercharger belt, does that, in effect, disable just the blower? It will stop the blades from spinning right? I'd like to see if I can narrow my search down.

If it's the blower, I'm worried about dealing with warranty services at Jackson Racing. Has anyone dealt with them? What's the turn-around time on fixing a blower?!

I'm really starting to hate my car. [img]mad.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 10, 2003 10:25 PM: Message edited by: 217gsr ]</font>

[lcopas]

hmmmmmmmm ... well .. I can't answer all your questions ... but I can say that you are right about the SC belt - if you pull it off - it will stop the rotors from turning - thereby eliminating it from making any noise...I am curiuos to see if your car still makes the nosie once the belt is off ....
sorry to hear you are having so much trouble... but I was afraid that you indeed have more than one problem that might be causing your noise.... [img]frown.gif[/img]

[217gsr]

Thanks Icopas.

I guess that will be step 1 then.

I sent an email to Jackson Racing regarding possibly having to warranty the blower. We'll see what they say. I'm cutting it pretty close to the end of my warranty. It's coming up to 2 years pretty soon.

Could it be a bent valve? Doesn't that kind of stuff usually happen when you are racing and you downshift into a lower gear and over-rev? I was DEFINATELY not racing when any of this noise started to appear.

[GSRDPM]

Now, let me preface this by stating that those who know me would be shocked to read a comment from me on any technical area [img]redface.gif[/img] .

I know, from past experience when belts have shredded on me, that the blower will turn when gass is given. I think it has something to do with the vacuum that is created when you step on the gas or something to do with throttle position.

Heck...all I know is that when I would step on the gas, the blower pulley would turn, even without a belt on it. I believe it did not move at idle, though.

[217gsr]

That's fine. Idle is the most important place to check in my case, because that's when the sound is at its loudest.

Like I said earlier, this is really strange to me. Because it seems like when I drive it, the noise actually goes away (or maybe it's just drowned out a little bit) when I give it throttle input or boost. Given, my exhaust is not a particularly loud one.

[217gsr]

Problem solved. . . but not fixed.

I brought my car home from Acura earlier. First thing I did was remove the blower belt.

Good news was that the sound continued even after the blower belt was removed.

Next thing I did was slowly loosen the alternator belt (with the car running). The noise went away.

JRCivic helped me out in diagnosing whether it was the alternator itself or the alternator idler pulley. Thanks Jim! Turns out it's the alternator. Bearings must have gone bad.

Will be replacing the alternator tomorrow morning with a new unit from Acura.