Car makes hissing/rattling noise when gas pedal pressed- where to get free diagnosis?

jonj123

Dear all,

My Alfa Romeo Mito MultiAir 2010 has been making a hissing noise when the gas pedal is pressed and sometimes when I lift my foot off the gas pedal.
When I look under the bonnet, I notice a metal rod which goes into the engine, rattling (sorry for the lack of technical description!) . when I hold the rod still with a plier, the noise stops.

What could be causing this and is there anywhere I could get a free diagnosis of what the problem is? My local garage will charge me £45 just to take a look.

Would appreciate any help. Many thanks

z1a

Dipstick?????

Norman_Castle

z1a wrote: »

Dipstick?????

No need to be rude about the op..

lincroft1710

How often do you check your oil level?

z1a

A free diagnosis to discount 1 possible problem is to stick your finger over the dipstick hole when engine is running to see if sump is being pressurised.

facade

jonj123 wrote: »

is there anywhere I could get a free diagnosis of what the problem is?

The Owners group website for Alfa?

Or take 2 photos, a reasonable close up of this rod, and a shot of the engine showing where the rod is located (an arrow will help) then post them to a photohosting site (e.g. postimage dot org), and paste the links here.

Ganga

Could it be something to do with the turbo if it has one.

jonj123

facade wrote: »

The Owners group website for Alfa?

Or take 2 photos, a reasonable close up of this rod, and a shot of the engine showing where the rod is located (an arrow will help) then post them to a photohosting site (e.g. postimage dot org), and paste the links here.

Thank you. I'll do that and post the photo. I've recently had the car fully serviced and oil level is fine (referring to other comments).

Iceweasel

1. Check the dip-stick has been pushed fully home.

2. Check that the turbo hose securing clips are fixed tightly and there are no splits. 6 years old is about right for them becoming weakened and/or starting to delaminate.

Get someone to hold the revs steady around 2000 to 2500rpm and try to squeeze the hoses - they should be rock hard. If they are soft or if there is any evidence of oil leaks from splits in the rubber that could well be your problem.

Caution - be sure to keep fingers and loose clothing well away from moving parts while you check.

fiish

£45 for a diagnosis from a good garage (assuming it is a good garage) is totally reasonable.

I paid £30 to have my car's suspension checked when I heard what I thought was an unusual noise, got back a report saying many parts were looked over and were fine, and a mechanic even sat in the car with me to listen to it before telling me it was normal. The peace of mind as I drove off from the garage, also thinking on the few long trips I'll be making this month, and the chance to learn a bit more about my car, was worth every penny.

But if you can get useful input from other Alfa owners for free, that's great for you too!

jonj123

Here is the photo of the metal rod I was talking about (marked with red arrow)



http://imgur.com/a/pvgB7

Also here is a video of me trying to demonstrate that the noise dampens if I hold the rod with a plier.

https://vimeo.com/190436102