Same old Wagon: 1985 EA82 2WD Carbd 5 speed. This has been a sound that has gradually gotten worse. Whenever I accelerate fast or put the engine under too much strain there is a grinding/rattling metal sound like a shaft scraping against something, or a bunch of tabs being shaken around in an empty coke can. This sound is comming from the area of the engine/tranny.

 

Could this be a worn drivetrain bearing somewhere? Doesn't seem it would be anything valve related...it sounds like if I put the car under too much strain I could overdo it and cause whatever is making the sound to break. I don't care if its something inside the engine; I can fix that. And the tranny needs to be replaced at some point soon anyhow. But what could this be? I'm not leaking any oil or anything, just a strange internal sound that is stress-related.

 

Any guesses?

May be a stupid question I know, but is it pinging?

If you still have a factory center/mid pipe for your exhaust that maybe the cause of the noise. They're made with an inner and outer pieces of tube. When the inner tube rusts away it will begin rattling against the outer layer and cause similar noises under similar conditions from what you are describing.

Ummm no the engine is not pinging. SOMETHING is causing the idle to be insanely erratic though. I found out that the knocking sound I was experiencing before was the idle suddenly dropping to around 300 or 400 RPM, causing the engine to sputter and die. WTF!

 

The exhaust tube could be the cause of that sound? Is there any way I could test that? I've removed parts of the exhaust before...