alright i dont know if im over reacting to a noise thats barely there or not but hear me out and tell me what you think it might be.

At idle after the engine has been running for about a minute, you can hear a knock that sounds like a diesel idling. you can hear it the best from the wheel wells, but you can make it out from the top of the engine as well just not as loud. I suspected a rod bearing starting to go bad, but when you rev the engine up you cant hear it at all. if its there theres too much other engine noise going on to hear it. if you barely nudge the throttle a TINY bit you can hear it pick up speed. If it was a rod bearing wouldn't it be heard over the engine noise as you rev it up?

Also when you first start the engine if its been sitting a while there is no noise at all, it starts abuot a minute into the engine running. the noise isnt too loud, you cant hear it from inside the car with the windows down, but you can hear it from the wheel wells.

I asked some people about it, some dont even hear it while others thick its just a lifter or something. any of you got any ideas? the engine is a 3.1L v6 btw with roughly 80-90kmiles on it.

 

While you can hear the noise, ground each plug wire. See if it goes away. Make note of which wire cancels the noise. Bearing noise will usually go away or change when you take the load of the cylinder.

How's the oil pressure?

Use a stethescope, screw driver or long socket extension and place it around the engine and to your ear. Try and determine whether or not the noise is coming from the upper or lower end, left, right, front or back. It could be lots of things.

Hope some of this helps you narrow it down.

Regards

 

so ground each one of the spark plug wires one at a time to see if the noise goes away? i hadn't thought of that, good idea.

The oil pressure is fine according to the dash gauge, i dont have a mechanical gauge. i replaced the sending unit for it recently though and the pressure has been the same since before i heard the noise starting and now.

i'll try listening to it a little better to find out exactly where the noise is coming from.