Defender Puma 90 bearing noise / rattle

[Jason]

Hi everyone,

Great forum and one I have used many times over the years. I have a problem I can't fully get the bottom of even with all my searching on the forum nothing quite fits. So here I go..

I am getting something that sounds like a bearing rattling when the vehicle is under load and driving in general then when I lift off the power I get a spinning bearing noise that can be heard coming to a stop and rattle stops. Also stops when I put the clutch in.

Now it makes no noise when in neutral or when the clutch is up/down or with transfer box in neutral and box in gear. Turbo seems fine.Don't seem to be able to replicate the sound unless I am driving and its under load. As I come on an off power I can start and stop this rattle. The rattle overshadows the noise of the engine almost and can only be heard with the window open so not easily heard in the car.

Confused ? I know I am!

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas of other things I can check would be most appreciated.

Jason

[PAT303]

Clutch springs,common in your model. Pat

[Jason]

Thanks Pat for taking the time to post my reply.

Clutch was my original thought so I changed this a couple of months ago with new updated one, including spigot bearing, and release bearing etc I had the noise before and after the new clutch.

It had been going through my head to get another one in case it was faulty but reluctant too unless I am sure it's that.

(The new clutch did reduce my backlash by about 80% though as on the original one the centre of the plate had come detached from the outer.😄)

[Pickles2]

Could it not be the general "rattley noise" of all Puma engines?
Pickles.

[Jason]

I know these engines rattle, but their is definitely something else that I believe is rattly bearing causing it as when you back off a bit on the power you can hear a bearing come to a stop. I'm going to try and get the turbo checked next week although did chat to someone the other day who said it was unlikely. It just sounded like the noise was coming from that side of the car.

But as I can only hear it while driving and the driver side window open its a bit hard to pinpoint.

[Longtimer]

G'Day Gents,

Could this be caused by a slight misalignment of the gearbox imput shaft and the crank? That will cause a problem with the clutch and plate, and cause rattle.

I had a problem with my 200tdi due to misalignment of the bell housing due to incorrect assembly by an agent before I got it. It doesn't take much, but it can have a large effect.


Cheers,

Phill.

[PAT303]

How tight is the handbrake?,give the rear drive shaft a good wiggle,the bolts or flange nut could be loose. Pat

[Jason]

Thanks Phill that's definitely worth looking into a bit more. Although I have put the transfer box in neutral and gone through the gears and been unable to replicate the sound so it needs to be under load. I'm not sure if that test eliminates the clutch/ gearbox or not?

Also thanks to Pat I have a fair amount of play on the driveshafts and in the process of changing the diff and transfer box flanges. ( this is all part of reducing the backlash bit by bit ) the handbrake was something I haven't checked but it's nice and free with no other issues. Probably check that when I do the other work as I'm going to get the driveshafts balanced in the next week of so.

I love working on these cars just sometimes hard to determine what needs fixing😄

Jason