Whats this noise?

Hi all,

Can anyone help me identify a light knocking noise I am getting from my engine bay?

I've stuck my phone down there to record a quick video so hopefully you can hear it...it's got a bit of a metallic ting noise to it.



It lasts about 5 minutes when I start the car in the morning and leave it on idle. I first noticed it after the Big Jimny Meet where the car did around a 800 mile round trip. It's only at idle, and it goes away immediately when I start driving even when the car is cold. When I start the car and it's warm, it isn't present at all.

All the belts were done about 3 months ago and the water pump, oil pump and radiator are all about 4 months old. No temperature issues and engine RPM seems normal hovering around 800-900.

Thats something on the belts, tensioner bearing or similar, more on the power steering pump side of the engine. You can track it down by carefully using a long bar as a stethoscope to listen to parts to see where exactly the noise comes from.

Also I dont think its normal to be able to stop the fan as easily as in your video. It didnt seem to change the noise however. Usually i've heard of people jamming a rolled up newspaper in the fan and getting it mashed up so I would be reluctant to try with my fingers

Thank Riccy - I'll go have a proper listen with a tube of some sort but it was definitely more on the left (from where I was stood in the video) which as you point out would be power steering area.

I'll have a bit of a research about the fan! When I first did that months ago I thought it was a bit strange that it would stop..I think I was that kid in school that always poked things to see what happened.... still got all 10 digits thankfully!