I dont think there's another site as great as this one! thanks for all the info...I have been looking around but I can't find it. This never happen before but last night, I pressed the gas after a stop sign and I heard a rattle, kinda like a little pebbles under the hood, just for a second or two and it went away, what could it be??

Pebbles getting stuck in tire tread, relseasing making contact with metal of car ...

i think i have the same thing its not under the hood i think its a heat shield under the car?? is there one thats what it sounds like it is

Can you compare it to BEES IN A CAN sound?

yes, it does sound like beans in a can... I don't like.

You might have a bent heat shield. I have a similar sound and it was b/c of a bent HS. It's too costly to replace it and, from what the dealer told me, it doesn't hurt anything. IIRC there was a member here who said removing the heat shield doesn't do damage either (can anyone confirm?). I don't know if it's the same sound you have, but you might want to look into it.

thanks fellas! I'll look into...

what kind of gas are you using? sound like enging ping. If your not using regular unleaded switch to mid grade or premium. exact same thing happened to me when I switched to regular gas and went away when i switched back to premium.

always premium, it only happen to me this once, it had me thinking...

it could be stones between the radiator and the plastic shield that covers the bottom of the bumper, I have had leaves and stones in their before. I have also had problems with the radiator mount bushings causing the radiator to vibrate.

It is your coild going up, I had the same problem for a year until i replaced those bastards, how many miles do you have on the max?

It could be my coils, I have 61k, how much did it cost you??

did you have the same "beans in a can" sound after hitting the gas??

I also have the same sound, and i believe it happened after going off road. My best guess is the heat shield near the cat convertor, or the cat itself.

Happened to many of the 4th gens (mine included) the headshield below part of the exhaust... Mine was rusty and winced off a speed bump one too many times till it was dragging one morning on the way to work, ripped it off in the parking lot and never looked back.

From what many people have said it's main purpose is to prevent hot portions of the exhaust from catching anything on the ground on fire... So, just don't park ontop of any really deep dry brush if you take it off!

The coils were like 50-80 dollars each!!! I will bet on that it was the coils, beans in a can is the sound the master tech asked me before he fixed the coils, and he never put the car on a lift to look at the heat sheild!!