My engine's just started making a noise that sounds a bit like top end bearings worn out. It came on totally out of the blue at idle after a slow drive around town. It sounds in time with the engine i.e. sound is present at all engine speeds and loads and seems to be coming from the dirvers side of the engine bay. My car is an MY99 wagon with FSSH and 72K on the clock. The oil is clean and at a good level. Everything else seems fine.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I took it straight home and havn't driven it since, I'm worried about driving it to a garage in case something breaks on the way (my old nissan 200 made a similar noise and engine seized 2 miles later!). I always warm up / cool down properly and service it with no compromises.

HELP!

 

could it be the turbo heat shield that has come loose (does happen) this can give a rattly sound and will generally increase with engine revs etc. I would check that first of all.

 

Hi and thanks for replying so soon, not it's def not the heat shield. I've got a full GGR exhuast and cat which means the heat shield doesn't fit over the down pipe properly, it's been held on with one less screw than OEM for 2 years. It does give a slight buzzing kind of rattle at certain RPM, but this is a new sound. It really does sound like bearings. Also, when you stop the engine, it seems to come to rest more promptly than before. I'm a sound engineer and always listen carefully to the old girl!

Are the bearings known to be weak? I've searched scoobynet pretty well and I can't find any problems like this.

 

I am such a berk. I noticed a mini firework display of sparks across the coil and then down the left hand side of the engine, then one of the HT leads not in it's clip, I pulled it and low and behold - number one HT lead had fallen off the plug. I think the knocking noise was so bad because maybe some power was leaking down the wrong HT leads as it arced across the coil.

Looks like a mechanic at dealership tried to force the cable into the clip near the tubo with someting sharp because the aircon pipe next to it has a new nick in it. They probably didn't clip it in probably whilst they were damaging my aircon pipe in the process, the engine vibrations would of then eventually shaken the cable free from the plug. Now I've just got to scrape the glue off the windows that some **** sprayed on my car and she'll be right as rain again.

Moral of the story? inspecting your engine in the dark can be useful after all.

 

If you take the heatshield off and cut a chunk out of it using a hacksaw it will go back on with all the bolts and not rattle or buzz.