Strange Noise From Front Of The Engine - Help

Red_Bullet · Postby **Red_Bullet** » Fri Jan 11, 2019 7:06 pm

hmmm...from the videos, sounds like a ball bearing some some kind. Think alternator, AC compressor or power steering pump. Maybe belt has been over tensioned and overloaded a bearing. Maybe remove those belts and see if the sound goes away. Spin pulleys by hand and check for smoothness of rotation of the bearings. You could also use a mechanics stethoscope while it's running and listen to each component desperately to determine which bearing is screwed. Be careful playing around belts, too easy to loose body parts. Otherwise as stated previously, take it to a mechanic. I've bought mechanical stethoscopes off ebay for around $7.

CrazyRacer · Postby **CrazyRacer** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:13 am

Take the accessory belts off one at a time, run the engine (briefly) and see if the noise goes away.

Might narrow the issue down to an a/c, p/s, w/p or idler pulley bearing.

Red_Bullet · Postby **Red_Bullet** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:44 am

^^^ what he said.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:59 pm

People dont seem to get it - dont mess around with it- the car has just changed hands. Cars dont suddenly develop faults when you drive off from the seller. Faults on the car should be within reason picked up or identified before heading down the road.

Inksta · Postby **Inksta** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:10 pm

Just a heads-up: In the comments on both the videos, the poster mentions that the problem was an overly tight timing belt, and that it was fixed by correcting the tension.

CrazyRacer · Postby **CrazyRacer** » Mon Jan 14, 2019 4:01 pm

Mr Morlock wrote:People dont seem to get it - dont mess around with it- the car has just changed hands. Cars dont suddenly develop faults when you drive off from the seller. Faults on the car should be within reason picked up or identified before heading down the road.

If the car was bought from a dealer and the OP is entitled to a warranty, statutory or otherwise then I'd agree with you completely about not messing with it. Just take it back and get it fixed.

If its been bought privately you'd have to prove that the car has been misrepresented or altered after the deal was made. Good luck with that and even then the fight probably wouldn't be worth having.

We're talking about a 15-20 year old car. They can and do suddenly develop faults and it may just be a case of extremely unfortunate timing.

Hopefully its an easy fix.