FIX - Marbles in a can rattling noise when driving at low rpm 1000-2000

[Fisherking]

Hi everyone

 

I had this issue which has been documented before. It's been very annoying/embarassing when pootling around town or car-parks .

 

I did a few searches on the internet and see it's quite a common thing, a number of solutions have been suggested to fix this but I couldn't find anything conclusive.

 

So what I did this morning was to get under the car with a rubber mallet. I tapped the exhaust and found the problem. It wasn't the exhaust itself but the plastic under trays under the car.

 

I took off the two at the back of the car, one on each side just before the Y exhaust pipe and the one in the middle of the car near the front axle, behind the engine under tray.

 

They were full of gravel - some of the stones were the size of my thumb nail! I cleaned these all out and re-attached and Yey no more noise . In fact now the noise has gone I realise it was a lot louder than I thought at the time!

 

What I think was happening was that when the car hit certain revs the resonance of the exhaust would vibrate the gravel in the undertrays and hence the noise.

 

Now whether my new Zed had a track day in its past, finding a convenient gravel trap or the Zed has just picked this gravelly rubish over time I'm not sure. But before anyone goes mad with the noise or starts spending money chasing a fix it may be best to check your undertrays 1st.

 

Hope this helps

 

Matt

[glrnet]

Nice one buddy. Pinned.

[Stutopia]

Genius. Mine has a little rattle at idle which appears to have developed since I took a tour of the more gravelly areas (not run off areas!) of the office car park.