At Snett on saturday, the guy from Cit-Ren (don't know whether anyone knows of him, track prepped 172 Cup, sign written "Cit-Ren") heard my engine on idle and instantly said the dephaser pulley bearing had gone. I had noticed it but didn't really know any different as I've not stuck my head in many 172 engine bays while idling.
Its tricky to describe, but is a kind of dry ticking (ever so slightly whiney), but not tappety ticking..... Its quite subtle tbh.
Does anyone have a video of their engines running with this problem? I will try and get a video of mine running up on here later to see if the noise comes through it.
Side issue purely out of interest, if this pulley is at fault, then does this then mean the cam phasing (or variable cam timing, whatever you want to call it) is not functioning? I guess this will only really then have a knock on effect on emissions rather then any real driveability issues. Either way it ain't right!
Cars not being driven for next 5 weeks anyway so plenty of time to get it sorted.