182 Rattling Noise

[feltus]

Hi guys,

I've just purchased a 2005 Clio 182 as a throwback to 10 years ago or so when I had an arctic blue 182.

My initial excitement on the drive home quickly turned into horror when I began to hear a horrible rattling noise coming from the engine bay at certain RPMs.
The noise begins at ~2200rpm and settles after ~3500rpm. It's most audible on the left side of the engine where the dephaser/water pump is.

In terms of the history of the car, the timing belt, dephaser pulley, water pump were all allegedly done at K-Tec 10k miles (3 years ago). There are stamps from K-Tec in the book for this, but no supporting receipts unfortunately.

Does this sound like dephaser pulley, or something more sinister? I remember the typical diesel noise my old 182 use to make at idle due to the dephaser pulley, this 182 sounds quite clean at idle.

EDIT: I should add, the car pulls well through the whole rev range, it doesn't feel like there's any loss of power or hesitation anywhere.

Further, I'm based in Cardiff. Does anyone have any recommendations for a specialist nearest to me? I've previously used Dan@SJM, but I'm aware he's closed down.

Please ignore the questionable pink powder coating, that'll be getting rectified ASAP!



Thanks guys!

 

[Louis]

I don't think that's belt related. Is the fuel guard rail tight on the front of the engine?

See if you can move it by hand then check these studs are tight.

 

[feltus]

Thanks for the quick reply Louis.

The guard for the fuel rail has been removed by the prev. owner and provided to me detached (potentially removed to try and diagnose this issue? I deserve to be beasted for not questioning this further!)

The rattling really sounds more prominent in the dephaser area, but it wouldn't be the first time my ears have fooled me if it's coming from elsewhere.

 

[Louis]

Thanks for the quick reply Louis.

The guard for the fuel rail has been removed by the prev. owner and provided to me detached (potentially removed to try and diagnose this issue? I deserve to be beasted for not questioning this further!)

The rattling really sounds more prominent in the dephaser area, but it wouldn't be the first time my ears have fooled me if it's coming from elsewhere.

Ahh, that removes that theory then.

Shove a jack under the engine (with a block of wood under the sump) and remove the cambelt cover on the left. Should give you a direct view to see if anything is touching the belts. Might be a tensioner failed but I doubt it although it happens.

Meant to be changed every 3 years.

 

[Poopensharten]

Did you buy private mate?

 

[feltus]

Yeah, bought it private unfortunately

I immediately returned to the seller and tried to get my money back, but he refused to take the car back (obviously well within his rights)

He claimed he hadn't noticed the issue before, though I find that very difficult to believe. It's very audible from the cabin when pulling away in 1st/2nd if you venture past 2200rpm when the car is properly warmed up.

I was taken as a passenger on a test drive, but I think the seller purposely shifted earlier to avoid the noise. We did one pull through the gears, but when WOT the ktec exhaust masked the noise when within the cabin.

 

[Darren S]

Hmmm - that would have a been a major coincidence for that not to have been audible before.

Definitely seems to be from the left side of the engine, looking at it from the front of the car. Hope you get it sorted.

 

[RustyMojo]

Call Ktec and ask what they have done history wise on the car. I’ll bet the didn’t change the dephaser.

 

[feltus]

Cheers guys. I spoke to ktec and they confirmed the dephaser had in fact been done by themselves.

I'm going to drop it off to Phil of Grange Service Station in Cardiff next Tuesday (seen him recommended on here) and leave it to him to investigate, as I'm a bit out of my depth here!

 

[feltus]

Just an update to this. The noise turned out to be the alternator. Just had a new one fitted and the noise has disappeared 👍

A big thanks to Phil at Grange Service Station for diagnosing and sorting the issue so quickly!