Satyr , I already got the mechanic's stehoscope. Needed it to find out a rattle in the otherwise super smooth rotary engine in my RX8. I will poke around with it. I also think its the alternator pulley needing some greasing or maybe , from what I understand, the ball bearings might be shot. I doesn't sound like the noise is coming from the bottom end. What do you think would be so bad if it was from the bottom of the engine ?

I did a quick test for faulty earth connections and as i expected , there is a faulty ground some where and there is at least one wire somewhere that is shorting out. I connected a voltmeter at the negative terminal of the battery and engine and I got a 13 V reading. I am going to research where the engine is grounded and check the connections there. Also need to check the main grounds behind the glovebox to see if that is alright. I did find a connector or something of that sort that seems to have rusted out. I don't know what it is but I am going to post a picture on the W201 forum and see if any one can help me out with it.