[97Safari]

Hello Gang!

I just bought my van over the weekend, so I haven't had a chance to investigate this noise myself yet. It sounds like a marble inside a sealed tin can being shaken back and forth rapidly. It's coming from somewhere in the rear, it's completely random and only does it in the first 15 minutes from a cold start. The PO told me it has done this from the time they bought it new and no one has ever been able to figure it out...Probably because it is so random, no tech wants to waste his time with it. The van doesn't have to be rolling, I heard it last night sitting still.

TIA and Merry Christmas!

 

[ihatemybike]

Sounds like what Green does. In my case, I need a get Green a new CAT.

 

[tedanderson]

FWIW, I had a similar sound that went away after a big chunk of sheet metal fell from underneath the van. By the size and shape of it, it looks like it is some sort of heat shield for the cat or the muffler.

 

[Mr_Bowtie]

^+1 I would check out heat sheilds and anything else under the Van that could possibly rattle and make noise.

 

[97Safari]

It's definitely not the cat or a shield. It's probably the weirdest thing I've ever heard from a vehicle. I'll try to get under it this week. I'm more curious than anything else.

 

[Mr_Bowtie]

If you catch it in action you should get us a video of the noise. :mrgreen:

 

[Gus_Mahn]

I don't know if it's the same noise, but my '97 has a noise 10-15 minutes after startup since new. Mine goes chk, chk, chk then usually makes the same noise again a few minutes later. I've always assumed it was the charcoal cansister purge opening up, but idk for sure.

I bought the van when my kids were 2-3 and they used to get a kick out of noticing the noise. They're 14-15 now, and they think I'm nuts when I say "there's the noise" with the same child like enthusiasm that they used to say it with.

 

[97Safari]

Gus, I think we have the same noise. I was thinking it has to be something electrical since it doesn't matter if I'm rolling or stopped. So in looking at the wiring diagram, I see that there is a Evap. Canister Vent Valve on the undercarriage in the middle of the van...right about where the noise seems to come from. On my next day off, I'm going to run a jumper to it and activate it from inside the van to see if it makes the same noise. I'll let you know what I find.

 

[gillbates]

I have a tin can rattle from the front of my 97 rwd. I drove it 49,999 miles without being able to figure out where it was coming from. At some point I had my local trany shop do a service on it and they figured it out. The top vane on my grill had broken loose and rattled from around 25 mph to 45 mph. After that the wind held it up and it stopped rattling.

The reason I decided to respond to someone with a rear rattle was the way the tech figured that out. He determined the speed that it happened at and then found a hill and turned the van off as he rolled at that speed.

I was impressed.

Now make sure you don't lock your steering wheel, run out of road, etc.. I thought it was a pretty good way to narrow the issue down myself. And I had had 30 year car guys in the van that could not figure it out.

 

[lsetten]

I have this same noise. Weird.