i just been for a ride out and had a look under the bonnet as u do at 8 at night, and i noticed an odd kinda rattle kinda like a bearing bust hard to explain sorry, coming from the area just to the left of the top yellow arrow in this pic i nicked from ttnet, the round alloy shaped thing with a black dot in the centre just below the intake chamber, does it sound seriously expensive?

forgot pic

 

rattly thing

Thats your air con pump mate :( take a couple of bolts out of the cover lift it back with your fingers & have a look to see if the pulley is loose? Simplest first 'A'. Other than that wait for a more tech answer.

I beg to differ Harve, but assuming I'm looking at the right top yellow arrow, that's the CAS, not the a/c compressor - the compressor is much further down than that.

 

If you've a rattle from that area it's probably one of a few things - either a tappet at the front of the engine on the pass side is getting a bit rattley, or the VTC springs in the pass side inlet cam are getting lazy (has your car had a 60k done? Were the VTC springs changed then?), or the bearing on the centre idler pulley (actually directly below the centre of the plenum, sorta in line with where the throttle cables are) is going dodgy, though I'd expect that to be more of a groan.

 

If it's one of the first two - it's not life threatening. An oil change might clear the first up, the second would need new VTC springs (unfortunately you've got to do a 60k maint to get at them as they are in the intake cam gear), the third would need a new idler (Courtesy sell these) and a 60k maint too - and is much worse, as if the bearing goes on that totally.. it could end up nasty.

 

Much more likely it's either a tappet (regular tapping noise, rises with engine RPM), or the VTC spring though (more irregular rattling).

 

HTH.

Respect Aaron, I was told it was the compressor/pump:confused:

I guess if i had to repair mine i'd know :o

thanks for info, no service history so dont know if belt changed or not, 75k on clock so i would expect it to have been done, i changed the oil and filter recently too, maybe best get belt changed and it looked at anyways.

If the belt has been changed then it should be in the service history, or there should be a sticker on the cambelt cover. If not then I would seriously consider getting it done PRONTO, together with a full 60K service.