Kind of a rattle on tickover only

Bentley

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British Zeds
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Mar 30, 2017
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37
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Surrey
Model of Z
3
Hi All. I know this is a long shot for anyone to identify an engine noise just by listening to a sound bite. The noise is coming from my 3l M54 6 cylinder Z3 (21K on the clock). It is only there on tickover, at about 850 revs it disappears. I don't think it is anything to worry about but would like to know the cause. I have listened carefully but can only tell its coming from the front of the engine. If you listen to the attached sound recording you will hear the noise disappear after 14 seconds as I gently raise the engine speed and come back at 20 seconds. Any help welcome. Hopefully the recording will play if you click on it.
 

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Brian4

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Dec 23, 2011
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Near Grantham
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Z3 3.0i Auto
Could be the tensioner or idler pulley bearing for the serpentine belts.
Or viscous fan bearings

Easy way to eliminate is to remove the belt and run the engine briefly without and see if the noise goes away. NOT FOR LONG as there is NO water pump with the belts off.!!!!
 

Eddie Zedder

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Jun 10, 2015
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Z3 2.0
Could be the exhaust manifold heat shield, mine rattles at idle.
 

Bentley

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British Zeds
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Model of Z
3
Thank you for replies, were you able to listen to the recording ok ?. I am going to check out your suggestions
 

GazHyde

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Z4 MR
Could be the tensioner or idler pulley bearing for the serpentine belts.
Or viscous fan bearings
I'd be tempted to agree with Brian as a starting point. Problem with recordings is that they can make the sound seem worse when listening, but gives a fair idea though.
 

t-tony

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If you have a can of silicon spray try giving the belt a quick squirt while it's running and making the sound, if it goes away you've found the main area of interest. I does sound like a belt issue to me.

Tony.
 

the Nefyn cat

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Actually in Nefyn. My, that took a while.
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2.2i Sport
Had a similar noise on a 330 a while back, seems they have an extra idler on the aux belt, not there on my 2.2, and that was making all the noise. As @Brian4 suggests, slip the belt off, maybe draw a quick picture of which way it goes round the pulleys first, can get a bit confusing in there.
 
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