Scooby125

I have an Sti 2 Ra and when the car is well warmed up, I can hear this tapping noise and it is more noticable when you listen from underneath the car. It sounds like it is coming form the exhaust manifold area when listening from underneath the engine.

I put it down to probably being the shims so got a mechanic to open up the passanger side fo the engine(where I thought the tapping was coming from) and he checked the clearance on that side and said all was fine and within the 2 thou tolerance. He could also check the other side but I am fairly sure that side is very quiet.

I also got the tensioner replaced when doing the timing belt so that is ruled out also. I can't see where there is any heatshields loose so fairly sure its not that.

The big ends are perfect on it so not them either(thankfully). Its a bit of a mystery to me and even though the car runs/pulls perfectly the tapping noise when hot is a bit annoying. Sometimes the noise is intermittent when hot and other times it cannot be heard at all. It always comes back at some stage though. I know it is difficult to diagnose from thsi but someone might hazzard a suggestion to what it might be.

Cheers.