Hey there - I have my lovely 87 745 that makes a tinkling sound when I am cruzing along at any speed above 15-20 mph. I can describe it slightly like dragging a chain on the ground or ?? it has absolutely no bearing on the speed of the car (other than it stops below 15-20 mph) it does not matter if the car is in gear or not, or if the engine is running or not. Will not change if i step on the brakes or pull the parking brake. no change if I steer.... so what gives?

it sounds like it is coming from the underside of the car - in the middle somewhere - and I checked the cat heat shield - that is not it...

thanks for your input...

sTefan

Accessory bushings. When the car is running, look down at the alt pulley and see how much the belt deflects.

Or a heat shield rattling.

Well - I have checked that too - I have actually shut the engine off and coasted in N - the noise still persists... so that rules out the engine or any accessory drive stuff...

definately from under the car somewhere in the middle...

sTefan

That leaves the center support bearing or the U joints to inspect. I'd check them out soon.

I have a similar problem with my 87 765 156K miles. I have had it at two different shops to investigate and they cannot find anything nor can they even hear it. One shop even put four mechanics in the car and drove around and they claim they could not hear it. I just gave up and figure I will wait to see if anything eventually fails.

Isn't it annoying??

I can't seem to figure out what it is.... it is like the phantom chain draggin across somthing while I drive. I know what an exhaust rattle sounds like, and that is not what i have...

almost like loose bolts or tingling washers or something?

well, i suppose I'll check more under there in the next few days...

stefan

Just an off the wall guess stephan, but have you checked the springs in your brakeing calipers? if they are bendix they have springs and allot of times the springs whear out and rattel in the caliper, thus why when the car is off you hear it, when you stear you still hear it and if the brake pads are not volvo pads you may hear it also, sometimes OEM pads are smaller the org pads which causes that, or of course the springs are shot and need to be replaced, there only like 1 dollar a pop.

good luck.

Like you, my first hought was something on the exhaust.

Usually things like this noise are taced back to something rusted off and handing by shreds, tinkling.

Try that as a guide and have another look.

i had a cadillac that had a noise like that. turned out to be the catalytic converter element had brokena nd little pieces of it were rattling in the pan of the converter. smashout the rest of the broken crap or replace. prior suggestion not particularly enviro friendly, however in older vehicles do the converters still do anything?