4 things to quieten your noisy diesel engine

[Max]

Hi all,

I love my Journey but as many of you know the diesel engine noise is intrusive, so as an Engineer I decided to do something about it.

First of all I bought a medium size acoustic engine blanket from the link below for £85 including postage, & fitted it on top of the engine with a single releasable cable tie (you have to undo the cable tie to top up the oil so a standard tie will not do) This took 2 minutes to fit and reduced the engine noise by about 30% I would say. It cuts mainly the high frequency 'tappety' sounds so the engine no longer sounds like a tractor in my opinion, more like a throaty car engine. (I'll post some pictures of it fitted if you want)

http://www.noisekillergb.com/product_details.asp?ItemID=91

Second I examined the sound proofing and found some of it had moved out of position. If you prop the bonnet up and shine your torch behind the hinges into the wings, there are two purpose made sound absorbing wadding pads in the wings. The one in my drivers side wing had dropped about 5 inches and was clearly not doing its job. With one hand and a long screw driver I managed to push it back into place, it appears to be push fit only. Make sure the bonnet is securely propped because if the bonnet drops with your hand in the hinge it'll mangle your hand!!! I'm keeping a eye on this wadding and if it drops again i'll glue it next time. I think this queitens road noise more than engine noise.

Thirdly adjust your bonnet, there are two plastic hexagonal adjusting scews either side at the front about the size of a 50p piece. You can turn them with your hand and they have a surprising affect on engine noise, the only explanation I can give is that the bonnet must be resonating on its mountings. I noticed that the engine noise seemed to get louder at 20mph in 2nd. gear and 30 mph in third gear, this is symptomatic of resonance at a certain rpm. I've found setting the adjusting screws with about 7mm of thread visible under the head is best for me, the resonance goes. I also found that if you adjust them as low as they will go the engine is much quieter when cold but louder when warm - wierd i'd be interested to see if anyone else finds the same. Experiment with various settings.

Fourthly, put some expensive diesel in it, I think it makes a difference but its questionable whether it's worth paying the extra.

I am now pretty happy with the noise level in the cab but I'm not done yet...

If you look there is actually a load of sound proofing in the Journey, e.g. both sides of the bulkhead are padded. I would even say that one of the reasons the diesel engine sounds so loud is bacause the road noise is quiet. I think they have just left a few gaps for instance have you noticed there is no inner wing to speak of, so the engine noise can get right into the outer wing and around or over the bulkhead, I'm going to take a look at that next.

Watch this space...

[Tiptronic]

Very strange !!! My Diesel Patriot wasnt the quietest car on the road , but acceptable. I had a Loaner CRD Journey SE for 3 days & I remember saying to my wife that it was possibly the most quiet diesel vehicle I have ever driven. I used check the Tacho at traffic lights just to make sure the engine was running as it was so quiet.

Maybe yours is an early import ...I understand some of the early ones were a little rough around the edges......

[Max]

Very strange !!! My Diesel Patriot wasnt the quietest car on the road , but acceptable. I had a Loaner CRD Journey SE for 3 days & I remember saying to my wife that it was possibly the most quiet diesel vehicle I have ever driven. I used check the Tacho at traffic lights just to make sure the engine was running as it was so quiet.

Maybe yours is an early import ...I understand some of the early ones were a little rough around the edges......

I should have said its a Sept 2009 CRD SXT with 8000 miles

[radyvady]

Max, could you please post pics of the acoustic blanket installed in your journey? How deep does it go behind the engine?

Thanks a lot.

[Max]

Max, could you please post pics of the acoustic blanket installed in your journey? How deep does it go behind the engine?

Thanks a lot.

Will do, but it may be after Christmas now.

[Goldrush]

Excellent topic, keep it going!

I own a euro spec SXT 2008 2.0 CRD and the only thing that bugs me is the engine noise. I guess the main cause is the fact dodge has used a non common rail VW diesel for the journey and used a alluminium bonnet. I'm considering the bonnet liner you mentioned and also having the wheel spaces isolated by a specialized garage that does these jobs. I've noticed that almost every euro car has these spaces isolated by some sort of meshed fabric. I reckon that this is for sound proofing.

In addition, I am also thinking about having the roof isolated because of the noise generated by hard rai. It almost sonds as if you're camping in a trailor.

[Max]

Excellent topic, keep it going!

I own a euro spec SXT 2008 2.0 CRD and the only thing that bugs me is the engine noise. I guess the main cause is the fact dodge has used a non common rail VW diesel for the journey and used a alluminium bonnet. I'm considering the bonnet liner you mentioned and also having the wheel spaces isolated by a specialized garage that does these jobs. I've noticed that almost every euro car has these spaces isolated by some sort of meshed fabric. I reckon that this is for sound proofing.

In addition, I am also thinking about having the roof isolated because of the noise generated by hard rai. It almost sonds as if you're camping in a trailor.

OK I've finally taken some photos of the engine blanket installation, see attached. The blanket goes on top of the engine and tucks as far down the back as it will go.

On the drivers side it rests on the exhaust heat shield, on the passanger side it rests on one of the engine hoses. The single tiewrap fixes it to one of the rigid pipes at the front of the engine.

As I said it makes a significant noise improvement.

I've also done a crude but affective mod to seal up the gaps in the top of the inner wings see separate reply.

Max.

[Max]

Excellent topic, keep it going!

I own a euro spec SXT 2008 2.0 CRD and the only thing that bugs me is the engine noise. I guess the main cause is the fact dodge has used a non common rail VW diesel for the journey and used a alluminium bonnet. I'm considering the bonnet liner you mentioned and also having the wheel spaces isolated by a specialized garage that does these jobs. I've noticed that almost every euro car has these spaces isolated by some sort of meshed fabric. I reckon that this is for sound proofing.

In addition, I am also thinking about having the roof isolated because of the noise generated by hard rai. It almost sonds as if you're camping in a trailor.

OK I've finally taken some photos of the engine blanket installation, see attached. The blanket goes on top of the engine and tucks as far down the back as it will go.

On the drivers side it rests on the exhaust heat shield, on the passanger side it rests on one of the engine hoses. The single tiewrap fixes it to one of the rigid pipes at the front of the engine.

As I said it makes a significant noise improvement.

I've also done a crude but affective mod to seal up the gaps in the top of the inner wings see separate reply.

Max.

[Max]

Excellent topic, keep it going!

I own a euro spec SXT 2008 2.0 CRD and the only thing that bugs me is the engine noise. I guess the main cause is the fact dodge has used a non common rail VW diesel for the journey and used a alluminium bonnet. I'm considering the bonnet liner you mentioned and also having the wheel spaces isolated by a specialized garage that does these jobs. I've noticed that almost every euro car has these spaces isolated by some sort of meshed fabric. I reckon that this is for sound proofing.

In addition, I am also thinking about having the roof isolated because of the noise generated by hard rai. It almost sonds as if you're camping in a trailor.

OK I've finally taken some photos of the engine blanket installation, see attached. The blanket goes on top of the engine and tucks as far down the back as it will go.

On the drivers side it rests on the exhaust heat shield, on the passanger side it rests on one of the engine hoses. The single tiewrap fixes it to one of the rigid pipes at the front of the engine.

As I said it makes a significant noise improvement.

I've also done a crude but affective mod to seal up the gaps in the top of the inner wings see separate reply.

Max.

OK, the next thing I've done to block up the openings at the top of the inner wings cost less than 5 quid from B&Q!

It only took 10 minutes and was experimental but it fits well and it works well so I've left it in place. It is reversible though.

I bought 2 lengths of the grey flexible foam pipe insluator in the large 3 inch OD size from B&Q at £2.48 each.

Then cut the correct length to fit the gap starting behind the hreadlamp and going as far back as I could, cutting the end at an angle to match the angled brackets.

You can cut this stuff very well with a long kitchen knife.

Squeeze this round foam into the gap, you'll need to make a couple of cross wise cuts in the foam to clear the sheet metal brackets that hold the wings in place, you'll see what I mean when you come to fit it.

Then take the bits left and cut two smaller pieces, one to fit under the hinge support bracket and shorter oneone to fit in the gap behind the hinge support bracket see photos.

The one under the hinge support bracket is tricky to fit as you have to approach it from the other side of the wing and you can drop it between th inner and outer wing.

If you do it right you should have 3 pieces on each side 6 in total and a few inches of insulation left over.

Oh and a quieter car.

Regarding the bonnet, I'm not convinced there is much noise coming through it. Believe it or not, being an Engineer, I actually fitted an accelerometer to the bonnet and connected it to an oscilloscope to it on the passanger seat then drove the car around measuring the vibrations in the bonnet. There were far fewer vibrations than I expected & did not look significant.

Let me know how you get on

Max

Edited January 23, 2011 by Max

[Max]

OK I've finally taken some photos of the engine blanket installation, see attached. The blanket goes on top of the engine and tucks as far down the back as it will go.

On the drivers side it rests on the exhaust heat shield, on the passanger side it rests on one of the engine hoses. The single tiewrap fixes it to one of the rigid pipes at the front of the engine.

As I said it makes a significant noise improvement.

I've also done a crude but affective mod to seal up the gaps in the top of the inner wings see separate reply.

Max.

OK, the next thing I've done to block up the openings at the top of the inner wings cost less than 5 quid from B&Q!

It only took 10 minutes and was experimental but it fits well and it works well so I've left it in place. It is reversible though.

I bought 2 lengths of the grey flexible foam pipe insluator in the large 3 inch OD size from B&Q at £2.48 each.

Then cut the correct length to fit the gap starting behind the hreadlamp and going as far back as I could, cutting the end at an angle to match the angled brackets.

You can cut this stuff very well with a long kitchen knife.

Squeeze this round foam into the gap, you'll need to make a couple of cross wise cuts in the foam to clear the sheet metal brackets that hold the wings in place, you'll see what I mean when you come to fit it.

Then take the bits left and cut two smaller pieces, one to fit under the hinge support bracket and shorter oneone to fit in the gap behind the hinge support bracket see photos.

The one under the hinge support bracket is tricky to fit as you have to approach it from the other side of the wing and you can drop it between th inner and outer wing.

If you do it right you should have 3 pieces on each side 6 in total and a few inches of insulation left over.

Oh and a quieter car.

Regarding the bonnet, I'm not convinced there is much noise coming through it. Believe it or not, being an Engineer, I actually fitted an accelerometer to the bonnet and connected it to an oscilloscope to it on the passanger seat then drove the car around measuring the vibrations in the bonnet. There were far fewer vibrations than I expected & did not look significant.

Let me know how you get on

Max

IT SEEMS I CAN ONLY ATTACH 500KB OF PICTURES (3) SO I'VE INCLUDED THE ENGINE BLANKET AND LEFT OUT THE FOAM INSULATION PICS.

If you want me to email them to you direct just let me know.

Cheers

Max

[aussiedodge]

Max,

thanks for startimg this thread...the engine vibration thru the cabin on 2010 Journey R/T CRD is particulary annoying ..enough 12 mths down the track of ownership and after driving a 2010 Pajero diesel 2010 Volvo wagon diesels ..that the Dodge's noise n vibration is not acceptable and in my books nearly a deal breaker and giving me rise to thinking about an early replacement ..as i find the N &V just too annoying in what is a great vehicle in every other respect..

I have read thru the net that there was some query about the engine mounts..Dodge here in Oz checked mine reluctantly [supposedly] to shut me up ..but nothing wrong ..the noise n vibration seems to get worse the more people or load ..but I done think its weight related ..to me its like the drivetrain or similar with more weight changes the angle or pulls down harder on whatever it is that vibrates thru the car ..but its enough to cause the dashboard and door panels to vibrate n resonate...Dodge here seems to be happy with the response .."...its a diesel." .but the 2010 Vovo diesel i drove n England and my wifes 2010 swb Pajero yes have a bit of deisel clatter but vibratuion is minimal and not intrusive like my Dodge's ...very very disappointing