Ticking noise on a 300Tdi...only after just doing some major work...

Haven't checked the exhaust manifold but my mechanic was saying the clearances might be out too...still trying to ascertain whether the clearances are something that would have been fiddled with in the first place as part of the work they did...any ideas there??

Anyway he was great about it, said just drop it off over the weekend sometime and he'll be there to lock it up for me and then they'll figure it out Monday. There's also a couple of other things like a bit of an oil leak coming from somewhere and a really bizarre electrical beep that cuts in and out with the indicators/headlights/other electrical buttons, and that only happened after this work too haha damn gremlins.

Anyway I'll let them fix it up this time, but I do want to be able to do this stuff myself, bloody thing should sound immaculate though because that's how it has sounded the whole time I've had it and only now it starts sounding like an old pocket watch!

There is one other possibility that needs to be checked out. The noise, if it is clackier and 'deeper' than a tappet noise then it could also be a mistimed camshaft. I have personally in my youth done this, and subsequently seen it several times since over the years. The noise is one or more pistons being ' kissed' by valves...not enough to bend pushrods etc, like a broken belt. It is surprisingly easy to do, as a proper visual entails using a mirror...
Anyway hope it is sorted before the break for you.

Is there any chance of a sound recording?

Jc

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Originally Posted by Young Angus

Haven't checked the exhaust manifold but my mechanic was saying the clearances might be out too...still trying to ascertain whether the clearances are something that would have been fiddled with in the first place as part of the work they did...any ideas there??

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Any mechanic that doesn't check the clearances while he already has the rocker cover off is being slack, as I said it's a regular service thingy anyway.

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Originally Posted by bee utey

Any mechanic that doesn't check the clearances while he already has the rocker cover off is being slack, as I said it's a regular service thingy anyway.

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Well they definitely put a new rocker cover gasket on because it was leaking, but they didn't say anything about valve clearances. Maybe they aren't slack and they went to check them and adjusted a couple. Who knows...I'll try and get a sound recording maybe, and I'll get out the old garden hose :D

Reading what AK83 said about using a hose length as a stethoscope, reminds me of a friend who did a recent trip down to Canberra in a Mazda diesel ute with slide-on camper. As he got towards Canberra an engine noise developed that got louder. He went to two separate mechanics who both used stethoscope type apparatuses to ascertain what was causing the noise but could not identify it. Anyway he decided to take it to a diesel mechanic in the area. A bloke was walking past and said "hey mate do you own the Mazda ute on the street, your harmonic balancer needs replacing". So there you go.

Possible harmonic .. have have this issue myself not doing it perfectly after removing and installing the second time after being slack myself and not changing the (inner) crankshaft oil seal.
Started leaking, so had to remove harmonic balancer which was in good condition.
Newby mistake in fitting again, possibly not doing it up tight enough, or in reusing the (still new) crank key(done less than 1K klms)

My harmonic didn't tick so much as knocked(eventually) once I realised what was making the noise.

So something to check for, but you need to remove fan(remember the fan spanner tool is such a handy tool to have in your kit! ;))
15mm socket and breaker bar on the adjuster, to remove the serpentine belt and this frees the harmonic, allowing you to check for wobbliness.

Also ask the mechanic if they changed the crank seal(not the front dust cover seal on the front timing cover).
If not, there could be a high possibility that it may start leaking if not changed.

I didn't change mine as it wasn't leaking, which turned out to be misplaced observation on my part. The crank timing gear pulley gets replaced with a timing belt, so obviously disturbing it, then stresses the crank seal too .. and it starts leaking.

You made the comment that you trust the mechanic re things Landrover, and if this trust turns out to be real, then he'd know this.
When I didn't do mine(change the seal), I didn't follow the advice to change it while access was easy .. so I've now lived and learned.

How many klms have you done since the belt was done? ie. 50klms(straight after) or a few hundred(ie. a few days later) since you noticed the noise and oil leak?

For oil leak, give the very front of the engine just behind the harmonic balancer a good wipe down. Front seal leak will come from the hole on the bottom of the timing case. This hole has a thread that fits the wading plug. If you go into deep enough water, you're supposed to fit the wading plug.
(most likely in the glovebox if it's still in the vehicle).
As you drive along, it sprays all over the place, making it hard to see where it's coming from. I initially thought it was a leaking sump gasket, but found it only after a wipe down while the car sat for a while and noticed it drip slowly out of the wade plug access.
The proceeded to slap myself about once I realised what the oil leak was(a totally mad DOH! moment).
Stupid thing was that I was prepared for it all and had many seals to replace as I discovered stuff.. and so I already had the crank seal .. so for me it was a case of do the minimum and newbness.

Didn't have time to fix it for a few weeks, so botched up a oil leak saver contraption to manage it(and not have oil everywhere) .. checking it every other day.

I did notice the ticking noise straight away as soon as I got in after picking it up. One thing the mechanic did do was adjust the tune, and in his words he "tipped a but more fuel into her" so I'm guessing he adjusted the fuel mix slightly to give it more fuel. Hr said that because of doing this I might be hearing a "diesel knock" so he will try taking that little but of fuel out again.

I did notice it drove a bit better on diesel only which was good. EGTs were sitting around 300-400 on a super hot day going along main 80km/h roads. Hit around 550 going up an incline on East link. He said he was happy with the EGTs because he tested it and tried to labour it up a steep hill and only got up to around 615. Anyway, maybe that's all he did and if he backs it off again it'll stop it's noises...We will see.

So my mechanic let me drop the car off today (legend) & after talking to him he reckons it's more of a knock because he put extra fuel into it. They didn't touch the valve clearances. He'll just take that little extra fuel out of it and see if it goes away, which it should, plus he'll get to tighten up al the brand new hose clamps and do another pressure test on it which he was keen to do after I'd driven it a bit anyway so it's worked out okay that way.

Could it be a faulty injector?

I say this because I have a ticking noise that's come on quite quickly, appearing to come from under the rocker cover at the front of a Tdi300 engine. It's very audible in the cab when driving.

I know the timing belt, harmonic balancer etc all good, and besides the noise does not seem to be coming from there. Did the rocker adjustment and checked lash caps were all there, but did not resolve the issue.

On a cheap auto stethoscope the front injector makes quite a different noise to the others.

There are other possible related symptoms: a little bit of fuel seems to be draining away to some where, making a few start attempts necessary, but not always (an injector nozzle that sometimes does not seal when engine off and leaking into cylinder?); doesn't seem to use oil, but level not rising; feeling power is down a bit; the ticking noise dies down a bit when coasting at speed, but picks up when accelerating.

The engine has 597,000 on it. Not too worried as I have 4 others to drive (and keep repaired) [bigrolf][biggrin][bigsmile][bigsmile1][bigsad][bawl][bawl]

Apologies to the OP but I thought this issue might be similar.

I have this metallic ticking noise coming from the front of the engine on this 97 Discovery 300TDI. This video was taken immediately after the car was started when cold.

New Serpentine and timing belt done a little over 12 months ago / 10,000 km ago.


I cant get a mechanic to look at it until after the new year. The issue can only heard on acceleration after it has warmed up but easy to hear when cold.

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Anybody recognize the sound? Sounds like a pebble bouncing around inside something.