missinmahseven

...and a metallic rattle at idle.. now, my car didn't have what I'd consider an excessively rough idle..

...but it did. They wound up replacing the motor mounts and some gasket somewhere, not sure where.

o.O It's like a new car. The shifter barely moves now when idling in neutral. No more clunky shifting. No more rattle. Even that "buzzrattle" at 6500 rpm has been changed. It's not a metallic rasp anymore, now it's more like a "shhhhhppt".. like a valve opening, which is exactly what it should sound like, I guess. I find it quite amusing that the idle rattle was also manifesting itself much higher up in the RPM band.. harmonics, I guess.

Moral of the story.. this is a wankel engine. If it's not almost turbine-smooth at idle.. have it looked at ^.^ If it rattles with AC on at idle (at random), have it looked at.

Feels like a much more expensive car now.

The hilarious thing is, this idle rattle and not-quite-smooth-but-not-really-bad idle was there from Day One, from delivery. I've been running around for two years and 40,000 miles with bad (weak is the word they used on the paperwork) motor mounts?! I had written off the not-quite-turbine-smooth idle to the Renesis being a sideport, therefore different from the peripheral-port rotaries I was used to..

swoope

iTrader: (5)

aint it cooL?

beers

XXXrx8XXX

hey wondering if u can be more specific with what gaskets they replaced do to the metallic sound at at acceleration i have the same thing i knew something was up

NoTears316

Did you tell the service guys, "good job"?

missinmahseven

Wish I could be, but I can't. I suspect it was exhaust related, based on what the tech said.

It could be the weak motormounts led to too much "roll" on the engine, busting a gasket, thus allowing for metal-to-metal contact.

missinmahseven

Sure did. He had the engine up, mounts and gasket swapped, and engine back down in about an hour... struck me as a particularly competent fella.

XXXrx8XXX

so it was the engine mounts mine is as 2006 so i dont think they have that issue

missinmahseven

VIn cut-off on the tsb (you are aware there is a tsb out for motor mounts, right?) is 154999, cutoff build date May 6 2006.

see www.finishlineperformance.com for a handy page with all the TSBs for this car.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

Yeah I remember when I got my new motor mounts and starter and plugs, felt like a new car.

missinmahseven

WOn't know fersure until I put some more miles on it, but I think the motor mounts were also responsible for a really clunky/rough 1-2 upshift.. but of course, completely at random. Smooth 1-2 one time, balky the next.

I had this idea that hot + humid weather were the cause of the balky shift, but I'm starting to get the idea it may have been the mounts. 1-2 is slicker n' dog snot right now. I hope it lasts.

Read on some other thread that the weak motor mounts actually caused the knock sensor to pull timing. I wonder if this was the source of (maybe half a dozen times in 2 years) this car actually stalling on me when idling in neutral... always after filling up.

Don't they road-test these before they shrink-wrap 'em for the boat ride? It had all the signs the day I took delivery.. I just didn't recognize 'em. It had been 10 years since I'd had a rotary car.

XXXrx8XXX

going back to the tsb for the mounts you states "VIn cut-off on the tsb (you are aware there is a tsb out for motor mounts, right?) is 154999, cutoff build date May 6 2006." its actually 2005 not 2006 and my car is a 2006 and my VIN is way over 154999 its in the 200000 so i dunno what the problem is if it is the mounts

missinmahseven

Have a good dealer take a look at it. Explain / demonstrate the issue. I had to force my car into rattling (by cycling the AC compressor on/off) before they'd do anything.

Mine's an 05 shinka, built 11/04, and it did *NOT* exhibit the exact symptoms described in the TSB. No hesitation.. just a rattle at idle. Yet it was still the motor mounts.

Yours could be something else, so I really suggest you take it to a dealer. If you have to give the service adviser a ride to demonstrate the issue, offer to do so.

There's really no way to diagnose any of this over an internet forum. Rattles / noises can be very weird, what one thinks is coming from one place could be coming from an entirely different source. I thought my rattle was a heat shield, for example.