Name that noise...
 

I just noticed yesterday on my 02 P5 (24K miles) it has this crazy noise coming from the engine. It sounds like a little pebble is stuck in the belt but it wont go away. Its fairly random but you can hear it every few seconds. It sounds like its coming from the front of the engine. It runs fine other than the sound.

Any guesses would help. This car sat for a long time, so its had some strange problems so far, like the heater core going bad. Could it be the water pump?

Well, its even better now. Its really loud and I have metal shaving coming from underneath the timing cover. Im gonna pull it apart and check it out

ewwww that doesn't sound good at all... let us know what you find dude.

It sounds like the VICS screw problem, but if yours is an '02 then that's probably not it...just to be sure
you should pull the spark plugs (start with #4) and check for damage.

Sorry, but did you read his problem description? How does metal shavings under the timing belt cover sound like the VTCS (it was an emissions recall ;)) screw problem??

I only read post#1.

What did we learn? ;) jk :p

to aviod flaming: this response is not considering the metal shavings

my VTCS screw fell into my engine and it made the same noise you are talking about. mine was NOT in the recall bunch either, yet the same thing happened. take it to mazda and have them check. mine was luckily still under warranty

LOL.

my screw fell into the cylinders so that could cause metal shavings...not sure if they would come out under the timing belt or not, i dont know how all that works. but mine fell off, i think the butterfly even fell in to, but not positive. when mine happened, i was at a stop sign and all i hear is a loud clanging and clicking noise, then my car shuts off. i was like wtf! so i restart it and it makes the sound again, but i baby it to get back home (was in the hood already). as i drove it finally stopped the noise. next morning i took it to mazda at 7am and they worked on it and figured out what it was. didnt get it back til the next evening. i wouldnt rule it completely out unless there is no way metal shavings would come out under the timing belt cover (like i said idk how it works down there) just my 2 cents. hope it helps

If a screw falling into a cylinder caused metal shavings under the timing belt cover, you've got WAY bigger issues! LOL

Unless I'm totally missing something, this is NOT the VTCS screw deal folks. This is something different.

KYaniak, have you been able to tear the front of the motor down to see where it's coming from?

yeah, for metal shavings under the timing cover to be related to vtcs, you must have had a screw go through the block.

its been so hot and ive been busy, im trying to get it apart this week

My dad had a chance to pull off the belt cover while i was at work, he said the bearing in the water pump is shot and needs to be changed.

Is a duralast or some other generic water pump good enough?

Don't doubt the FS-DE!

The water pump is not something you want to cheap out on. I've heard tons of problems with aftermarket pumps leaking.