Various noises

hpmaxim

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2003 Mazda Protege5
I was wondering if anyone wanted to comment on some noises I was hearing:

1) The exhaust seems about 15% louder than normal when in 5th gear. I suspect this actually isn't exhaust, and its probably the transmission. It just makes more noise in 5th than any other gear, but only when you're pushing on the throttle pedal.

2) Squeaking (very loud/annoying) noises emanate from the dash... sometimes, but not all the time. Its usually first few minutes of driving if it appears and then it goes away. Nothing seems loose.

3) There's a very faint noise that seems like a regular ticking sound, although its more drawn out, like a tocking sound, it gets louder when turning in one direction and softer in the other. I can only hear it with the window down. I presume this is a bad rear wheel bearing.

4) There's another noise I can only hear with the window down. It sounds kind of like a rattling heat shield, but is obviously fairly quiet. I only hear it when accelerating from a stop and only sometimes. The loudness doesn't seem affected by how hard I accelerate. I recently replaced the precat, downpipe, and removed the heat shield from the cat, so I doubt it actually is a rattling heat shield. The noise is very "crisp", but isn't very loud nor can I reliably repeat it.
 
You need to turn up your stereo !!!

You are becoming neurotic ...

There is no need to hear all that noise....

Your car will tell you it's had enough when it breaks,.. It's more than 15 years old.
 
Becoming?! What makes you think I'm BECOMING neurotic?

In terms of the squeaking noise, its REALLY loud, and annoying. Hard to turn the stereo up enough to overcome that. I was hoping this might be a common problem and there'd be a simple fix.
In terms of the 5th gear noise, I assume its in the transmission, but maybe it means I need to change the transmission fluid? Otherwise, probably not much I'll do about it. Is 5th gear the last gear to get lubricated or something?
In terms of the rattling outside of the car, that was just idle curiosity. I doubt its anything that's a real problem.
In terms of the tocking noise, I assume at some point I'm going to be doing a wheel bearing.

I can't even hear the last two noises with the windows up.
 
3) There's a very faint noise that seems like a regular ticking sound, although its more drawn out, like a tocking sound, it gets louder when turning in one direction and softer in the other. I can only hear it with the window down. I presume this is a bad rear wheel bearing.

My brakes did that before I changed them... I figure it was a chunk of rust that was clicking past the pads... Louder steering one way as well..

A bad bearing is more of a hum or vibration... It's hard to tell which corner it's coming from...
I made a recording of my bad bearing a few years ago...



My dash has squeaked since I've had my car... Apparently the cars have been full of noises since new..

I have some sort of heat shield rattling too... Ever since I've had my car...
I like it because it only happens at about 700-800 rpm and that means I'm bogging it and need to give it more gas.
 
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