[CTt3P5]

Bump for anyone else out there that has had this recall done or may know more about it. Our 2.0 started making this noise a few weeks ago but it has been intermittent. Wife heard it first while driving at highway speeds and I finally heard it on Saturday (while idling) after running some errands around town.

Noise sounds dead on to the first youtube link in this thread but if it was the vvt chain wouldn't the noise be there all the time and not random?

 

[CTt3P5]

Yes, that is similiar to the sound I'm hearing. Ran out for lunch and when I pulled into the parking lot at work I heard the noise so took a vid with my phone. Let it idle for a bit and grabbed a co-worker to listen as well and after about five minutes of idling it went away??

*edit - Just read your original thread and if it is normal, why is is something my wife just noticed almost three years into ownership?

 

[CTt3P5]

Stopped by the dealer tonight and played the video on my phone for the tech. Said it was tough to tell from that and made an appt to take a look at her next Friday. Don't think my issue is VVT though since it's not happening on a cold start up but rather when the engine is warm and at higher speeds. He also said he hasn't heard of a lot of VVT issues on NA 3's unless the oil was never changed or run at low levels. Did say he has seen tensioners issues though....hmmmmm

 

[CTt3P5]

can u post the video u showed them? My car is at 28k miles and I wanna bring it in to get it fixed if its possilbe before the 36k mile warranty.

I'll have to do it tonight or over the weekend since I can't access photobucket at work.

If it is the VVT it will be covered under the 5/60 powertrain warranty....not sure if the NA 3's got the 7/70 extension or if that was for FI cars only?

If it ends up being the tensioner, I'll have to fight a little since I'm just over 30K but we purchased the car three years ago on 2/12/10!! :argh 1:

 

[CTt3P5]

Alright sounds good. Wenever u can.

Might be a noob question but wats NA and FI?

Here ya go, not the best quality but...

Are the 2.0L NA or FI?

As 90210 said, NA is naturally aspirated (non-turbo engine) and FI is forced induction (turbo, ie: Mazdaspeed3, etc)

 

[CTt3P5]

Is that suppose to be a video? All I see is a picture

It's a vid, give it a click. Not sure why the little 'play' arrow isn't visible?

 

[CTt3P5]

Yup and just logged on to post up. They could not duplicate the sound, of course, but again said they rarely see the VVT issues with the 2.0s unless there is obvious negligence. Did say they have seen issues with the belt tensioners and mine had some play in it so they replaced it in hopes that would solve our issue. After picking the car up and following my wife home, she said she heard it on the 1.5 mile drive home. So, need to call them again and this time going to ask that I take a ride with the tech.

 

[CTt3P5]

Update....taking the car back in this Thursday night to take a road trip with the tech to point out the noise. Last night I heard it everytime I started from a stop, then it would go away and come back when I was on the gas at around 40mph. A few times I heard it when on the gas at 25 and 30mph. Goes away when I take pressure off the pedal? Tranny issue?

 

[CTt3P5]

More of a ticking sound and I'll try in the next couple of days. Will have to have the phone ready while driving since it doesn't do it all the time.

 

[CTt3P5]

Dropped the car off earlier tonight. Tech took a ride with me and when I pointed out the noise, he made some notes and said he hadn't heard anything like that before on the new 3's. So I'll wait to hear from them tomorrow.

 

[CTt3P5]

You and me both (my wife moreso since it's her baby). lol

 

[CTt3P5]

when i sit in my car i i listen closely i can hear a lite ticking sound but that same sound is the same continuous tinking i hear when i pop my hood like the video i posted here eariler. its much louder when i pop my hear of course. Not sure if that's the sound u are hearing. I only can hear it at idle or at a stoplight but nothing when im driving ( also due to the road noise that the 3's have i got Michelin MXV4 tires to try to minimize it but its just how our car is made...o wells..lol )

I've only heard it twice when idling (once in the garage and the other is my vid posted here). Wife has heard it more when idling though. Initially she only heard it at higher speeds (40ish) on the highway but over the last few weeks we hear it when starting from a stop (not at every start though?) and at any speed. I've heard it doing 65 on the highway or 25 around town. Other than the two times I heard it when idling I only hear it when I'm on the gas, it will just appear and when I take my foot off the gas it goes away instantly, depress the pedal it comes back but not all the time?

 

[CTt3P5]

Final update...I hope. Service dept. called today and informed me they swapped out the serpentine belt and the sound went away both on the lift and a test drive. Wife and I picked her up a few hours ago and ran a few errands around town on roads with speed limits varying from 25 to 50 and didn't hear the sound at all! Service advisor feels that the belt was stretched from the faulty tensioner which they replaced two weeks ago. At that time though they wouldn't cover the belt under warranty ($55) so they re-used the original belt and sound persisted. Today I got a new belt for free and no more noise!

So any other 2.0 owners with an intermittent rattling/ticking coming from the right front tell the dealer to check both the serp. belt and tensioner.

 

[CTt3P5]

And.....1yr 3mo bump! Wife told me last week that she started hearing the same noise again. Of course I checked my records and found that I had it fixed in March of 2013 so the warranty is not valid.

Thought I'd post in here to see if any others are still experiencing this or if anyone had it fixed, as I did and it came back. Have to wonder if Mazda got enough complaints of this to revise the tensioner? I'll be checking into that before replacing it.