Trying to troubleshoot this light rattle/knock sound running out of ideas!
 

I have a 2004 3 hatch 2.3l 5speed with 128k miles


Here's a video of the sound at idle https://drive.google.com/file/d/143AimjotFL2Ygea4yk6Ud57B8ADXSN8n/view?usp=drivesdk


Symptoms:

​​​​​​I have p0011 code. The sound gets more rapid until about 3000 rpms. It's kind of random and seems to only occur on throttle. If you take foot of gas in gear it goes away. I'll downshift to 2nd and you can't even hear it. The only time the sound speeds up are when you first start and throttle. Otherwise it's either non existent or rhythmic like in the video.

Aside from the sound it just hesitates and jerks a lot when driving it'll start to get up to speed but then feels less responsive in the pedal until it sorts itself out and it kind of jerks back and forth.


Previous owner said it started happening after he drove it home from mechanic. They did valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, and outer left axle shaft.

So naturally first thing I did was check spark plugs and gap which are good. No sensors unplugged.

Oil looks fine and it isn't burning

Idle is normal and stable and no overheating.


What I've tried:

Replaced vvt actuator

Changed camshaft position sensor on top

​​​​​​checked timing chain while under valve cover. Definitely no slop. And valve cover was pretty clean underneath.

I tried pulling the two plugs on the intake but not really much of a difference


Any other suggestions or ideas where it could be coming from. Really hope it's not a rod knock!



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