how to make a 2.4 jtdm quieter?

[toshy]

ok, it's a 159 2.4jtdm and I'm quite annoyed with the tractor noise it makes. unfortunately I have to live with the mistake of buying a diesel for the next 3 years so I'd love to make it less noisy.

I've hear that soundproofing the engine bay with dynamat and similar stuff might help, but as far as I can see only the engine hood can be covered in soundproofing mats without taking the car down to pieces, so the firewall and the front fenders are out of the question, at least for now.

I know that changing the exhaust won't help, but I'll do it anyway cause I've found some nice novitec exhausts.

what other options do I have to make that damn tractor sound quieter? (and yes, my friends made enough fun of me, so I've heard them all: fill it with petrol, wear headphones, etc... )

best thing to do is put the air con on and some gentle music to help drown the noise out.

do you know what engine oil they use at service? 5w30?

[Mitch166]

You must have heard the sound before you brought it, therefore you couldn't have thought it was too bad. Now your mates are taking the pee (Phillistines!!) and your letting them get to you! Be strong, don't let those nasty boys bully you! The 2.4 is an excellent engine, yeah diesels do still have that classic rattle on idle but so what? The pay off (power and economy) is well worth it

[toshy]

surprisingly I didnt test the 2.4 before I got it... dealers here suck.
the only reason i got the 2.4 instead of 3.2 was the yearly tax - ~1000euro for 3.2 vs ~100 for 2.4 (over 3000cc taxes are insane here).
I never had a diesel before, and even if I drove a lot of diesels I never bothered listening to their engines, but it's a completely different story when the car is yours...
at an average of 11l/100km (guess that's around 20mpg) and with the price of diesel rising it's equivalent to 15-16l/100km petrol (guess that's around 14mpg)... not saving much money with it either.
and indeed, it's driving me insane only at traffic lights or when parking it in tight spaces, moments when I can hear the tractor rattle...
and the worse part is that when I shown the car to my parents, my mom - she doesnt know jack about cars - said to me: "god, it sounds like a tractor".

[Mitch166]

20 mpg!! I know why your engine is noisy, it's F**cked!! (only joking but thats really low)

might quieten up a bit when the engine losens up a bit?

[toshy]

Originally Posted by Mitch166

20 mpg!! I know why your engine is noisy, it's F**cked!! (only joking but thats really low)

Details: Alfa Romeo - 159 - 2.4 jtdm q4

it's like 30% city, and I'm runing it in slowly trying to cover all the rpms while driving.

I sure hope it'll become quieter when it'll loosen up... at least the high pitched clacking to become quieter...

[Nev]

C'mon... its a diesel, not a V6.

[bomberesque]

I get 8l/100 from my 2.4 JTD. It's an older (02) 150bhp and not 4wd but I'd say at 11l/100 your car is sick or you're racing it. I can get mine to use 10l/100 but only if I wear a burbary baseball cap and drink becks

/edit; or because it's new like some of the others said here? I've never had a new car so I wouldn't know but I have seen several discussions here about new alfa engines needing upto 10k km to "loosen up". Oh, and try changing up at <2500 revs rather than using the whole range, seems to reduce the fuel use for me at least, I assume it's something to do with the turbo threshold but just know that it works tbh. looking at that site you linked for other cars similar to yours, you can see that your fuel use is way up, the others being between 7 and 9, which is what I would expect. Interestingly, looking for a 02 2.4 JTD like mine most are getting <7l/100 which I can't achieve so *shrug*

As for the sound, I find mine only sounds like a diesel at idle and then nothing like the older diesels. The minute I up the revs and put some load on it the engine note and turbo whistle kick in and you really wouldn't know that you're burning oil rather then petrol.

I drove mine to the UK last week and a mate commented that he could tell my car was french because he could hear it whine. No mention of tractors though

How common are alfa deisels where you are (Germany?) I'd test drive a 2nd hand one and compare the difference. If yours really is making lots of tractor noises, send it back to the dealer for some warranty love.

[toshy]

ok, but the consumption isn't the case here. it's quite ok by my standards and expectations. I live in romania (diesels are prolly more than 60% of the total market - local idiots here think vw passat b5 1.9 tdi is the ultimate car, hence the romanians love for diesels), and city traffic is a ***** here. people driving it mainly in the city with 2.4 fwd get 12-13l/100km. even more I travel quite a lot (as you can see) and not only I live in a montain town but I have to cross lots of hills to get where I have to.
also, after the engine will loosen up the consumption will certainly drop and even now I'm not driving it like a 60yo because I had quite a few new cars since now and the ones that I runned in driving extremely slow ended up being sluggish, so I'm driving it as close as I'd normally drive it but not accelerating like a madman. so, 11l/100km is ok.

but enough with the offtopic, the idle noise (at higher speeds I can get annoyed with the noise of the 19" pzero neros so I forget about idle )... anyone got an idea to make the tractor sound go away?

[Stevie28]

I know how to make the 2.4d quieter...............


part exchange for the 2.2

[toshy]

I told you that I'm sick enough of this kind of jokes. I could have got the 3.2 but I chose the diesel. living with it it's enough of a punishment, so please stop taking the **** if you have any good ideas I'm listening....

[Mitch166]

Originally Posted by Stevie28

I know how to make the 2.4d quieter...............


part exchange for the 2.2

And get less performance and higher running costs!!!!

[Stevie28]

Originally Posted by supercute

I told you that I'm sick enough of this kind of jokes. I could have got the 3.2 but I chose the diesel. living with it it's enough of a punishment, so please stop taking the **** :) if you have any good ideas I'm listening....

OK sorry, how about pouring a load of those polystyrene pieces into the engine bay, you know what they use in packaging, and then a good set of ear plugs? Only downside polystyrene close to hot engine it might be a fire hazzard.

I dont charge for my advice, you can thank me later :)

[belfast bob]

DO NOT stuff random things in the engine bay - FIRE FIRE FIRE

Whats the milleage of your car and has it had its first service?

[bomberesque]

Originally Posted by supercute

ok, but the consumption isn't the case here. it's quite ok by my standards and expectations. I live in romania (diesels are prolly more than 60% of the total market - local idiots here think vw passat b5 1.9 tdi is the ultimate car, hence the romanians love for diesels), and city traffic is a ***** here. people driving it mainly in the city with 2.4 fwd get 12-13l/100km. even more I travel quite a lot (as you can see) and not only I live in a montain town but I have to cross lots of hills to get where I have to.
also, after the engine will loosen up the consumption will certainly drop and even now I'm not driving it like a 60yo because I had quite a few new cars since now and the ones that I runned in driving extremely slow ended up being sluggish, so I'm driving it as close as I'd normally drive it but not accelerating like a madman. so, 11l/100km is ok.

but enough with the offtopic, the idle noise (at higher speeds I can get annoyed with the noise of the 19" pzero neros so I forget about idle )... anyone got an idea to make the tractor sound go away?

I only highlighted the fuel use as it indicates something is wrong with your engine, which might be related to the additional noise. However, your explanation of why you're getting 11 l/100 rings bells with me as I experience the same if I drive in the conditions you describe so nevermind that then...

If you think your 2.4 JTD is unusually noisy (for a 2.4 JTD) then get some warranty love. If you just think it's too noisy full stop then I think you're out of luck trying to get rid of the (honestly, little) rattle that these engines have.

I couldn't believe how much my 2.4 JTD sounded more like a rocket ship than a diesel when I first got it so I must admit that I'm having a tough time sympathising with your plight. One final note though, I'm not sure how much difference the running in process is likely to do to the engine noise as I bought mine used so haven't experienced the difference. However, I have read a lot of comment elsewhere on these forums about the engines "loosening up" over 10-15k km and I assume that this would affect the engine tone aswell.

Sorry you don't like your alfa

[typos1]

I liked the sound of my 156 2.4 JTD so much, I took off the engine cover!
Its sounds great, 5 cylinder whine, turbo whistle and diesel throb all at the same time.
Try thinking of it of a warble or a purr, you ll soon learn to love it

[Stevie28]

Originally Posted by typos1

I liked the sound of my 156 2.4 JTD so much, I took off the engine cover!
Its sounds great, 5 cylinder whine, turbo whistle and diesel throb all at the same time.
Try thinking of it of a warble or a purr, you ll soon learn to love it

Ive gotta say i heard a 2.4jtd on you tube, it was the noise from inside the car, and I thought it sounded great...

[zulu ferret]

Rio Samba bands Rule!

[jcgtveloce]

I'm a physics student and am currently carrying out investigations into the use of inverted sound waves to cancel out unwanted sounds.
Using the 2.4 JTD as an example... the rattle sound reaches our ears in the form of sound waves. The module which we have invented senses these sound waves through a microphone placed in the engine bay, pass this information to a control centre which inverts the sound wave. This inverted sound wave is then emitted back into the engine bay. This has the effect of cancelling out the rattle sound.
We have had successful trials in using this technology in a 1984 Jaguar Sovereign, resulting in an (almost) silent car. We have even removed the rear mufflers and in their place introduced this module. We experienced limited success with this venture.
Noise-cancelling headphones (very common on flights) operate on the same principle.
Hope this helps

[zulu ferret]

Good post jcgtveloce But I would of thought that the Big Cat,(ok she is old: ) would be quite a quiet beast as standard? Jag's.....Grace, Pace, and Space? Swear coming up! My sis-in-laws Beemer 5-6 pot sounds a little like a part worn sewing machine, but for a CI DERV sucking motor, tain't too bad?

[Stewart1]

These things are very subjective, so it is hard to say whether there is indeed something different about your engine.

I find the noise of my 2.4JTD quite rattly and diesel-like when it is cold. However after it is up to normal operating temperature (maybe five minutes) it sounds quite OK to me. A colleague has a Peugeot 407 diesel. The other day I drove into the car park next to him and he commented on how much quieter than his Peugeot the Alfa sounded.

[TimboZero]

Originally Posted by jcgtveloce

I'm a physics student and am currently carrying out investigations into the use of inverted sound waves to cancel out unwanted sounds.
Using the 2.4 JTD as an example... the rattle sound reaches our ears in the form of sound waves. The module which we have invented senses these sound waves through a microphone placed in the engine bay, pass this information to a control centre which inverts the sound wave. This inverted sound wave is then emitted back into the engine bay. This has the effect of cancelling out the rattle sound.
We have had successful trials in using this technology in a 1984 Jaguar Sovereign, resulting in an (almost) silent car. We have even removed the rear mufflers and in their place introduced this module. We experienced limited success with this venture.
Noise-cancelling headphones (very common on flights) operate on the same principle.
Hope this helps

Invented ? Sorry to rain on your parade but this is 'old' technology thats been tried and even rolled out in some of the major manufacturers cars

Toyota to wheel out noise-cancelling cars | ElectricPig.co.uk
Noise cancelling Honda cabins

[zulu ferret]

If they could 'smother' those rattles some more at birth I'm sure they would? Maybe one day?: