I've recently bought a mazda, and ive been driving it now for a few months. Had only minor problems with it until very recently...
Ive been driving along, and whenever the engine revs to about 3,000 to 4,000revs, theres a loud tapping noise which appears to be coming from the engine.
Is anyone out there thats had this happen or even knows what the problem might be.....
help would be greatly appreciated!
cheers
Alex

What is your milage? This sounds like the good old classic case of Rattling Heat Shield on your exhaust. If you go to the homepage there should be a guide there on how to fix it.

Good choice of car

well i thought it was a great choice
but does the heat shield really sound that loud??? and is there a way i can see if it is the heat shield rattling?

I havn't had this problem myself but I've heard loads of people complain about it. Aparently it's supposed to be really loud and annoying at a certain rev range.

But I could be wrong!

Hope this helps...

http://www.maz323f.co.uk/tuning/exhaust ... sheild.php

Is this rattle a 'metallic' one, and are you certain its coming from the engine bay.
If so, and it only appears at these revs it could also be 'pinking' or pre-ignition, as a result of the engine not being happy with the octane of the petrol.
I understand that these cars rely on the ECU to manage the timing of the engine based on the octane, advancing or retarding the ignition as needed.
If you try a higher octane fuel for some time (it takes a bit for the ECU to adjust) that should solve the problem.

However don't fall into the trap i did, by using a tank of cheap petrol, once, just to save some money on a long trip, it undid all the hard work!

You will be able to tell quite distinctly where the noise is coming from, if it is pinking, as careful listening will pinpoint it to the front right (seen from behind steering wheel) side of the car (engine head is on the right side)

Hope this helps

Nick

My heat shield sometimes vibrates on tickover

Careful mentioning all this vibrating around smotter - just wait for the jokes to roll on in!!!

i cant really explain it, its fairly quite usually, but it certainly doesnt sound like the engine tick a lot of mazdas have
id just like to find out where exactly its coming from...

HLA rattle, friction gear noise, carbon knock.... the list goes on. Do a search on this forum they've all been discussed before. by the way, the 323F ECU is not adaptive. I.E it does not "learn" as you drive