The wife has just got home in her '99 Disco II and there is a horrible loud rattling/knocking sound from the top front of the engine around the area of the belts/fan. The serpentine belt and fan look fine..... not being mechanically minded, is this likely to be the timing belt? If so are there any other symptoms that would confirm that for me?..... and what are the consequences of running it, even just to my trusty mechanic to get it checked??

 

What ever you do, don't start it again, you could cost your self lot more damage.
When exactly do you hear it, in neutral, in drive, when moving???

 

It was probably running when it started but noticed when it was in park and at idle in the garage. It definately sounds like it's coming from somewhere in the area of the auxilliary belt and almost sounds like a plastic knocking as oppossed to metallic sound.

 

You dont have a timing belt, you have a timing chain. How many miles on her trk? The chain could be bad, you may have a broken tooth on one of the timing gears. Or you could have what I had, a bad alternator. When the bearings went out on mine it knocked so loud that people looked at us like we were going to blow up, replaced the alternator and quite as a mouse.

 

Sounds like it could be a water pump gone bad. Any leaking from the water pump area? Do you feel any play in the shaft coming out of the water pump? Phil

 

No leaks at all and all the fluid levels are fine.

The noise is a very loud knocking like you get when you leave something metal in the tumble dryer. The alternator bearing sounds like a possible, ant easy way to check that as the source short of replacing it?

Also, if it is the timing chain or a broken gear tooth, isn't that noise more likely to be coming from the bottom of the engine? Mine is definately coming from the top....... and it's a '99 Disco II with 110k.

 

If it were the timining set it would come from the middle of the engine, but noises can sound like its coming from somewhere else. The timing set is directly behind the water pump, it covers the area from the crankshaft (bottom of engine)to the camshaft which is in the middle of the engine.
Now as for checking the alternator...remove the serptentine belt, take a rachet and on the front of the engine is a belt tensioner, you have to loosen it to remove the belt, you dont have to take the belt off completly, just remove it from the alternator.
Once you have done that spin the pully on the alternator by hand as fast as you can, if it makes a knocking noise then that is your culprite.
If it makes noise when you spin it then start the trk with the belt off and see if the noise is still there. If it is still there then it is inside the engine.

 

OK I took the fan and belt covers off and have ruled out the alternator, it's running smooth, no play or noise at all, but I noticed that there is some play in the fan and after a bit of digging found a tiny bit of coolant leak...... so I'm guessing it's the water pump. Plan is to get a tow tomy mechanic rather than risk it going completely on the 16k drive.... that's the right call right?

 

16,000 mile drive? Where are you going?
Yes have it towed, it must be flat beded, all four wheels have to be off the ground.

 

LOL, that would be 16km!

Thanks for the input..... just curious, what's the reason for the flat bed tow rather than front suspended??