So I have owned my current disco for about 4 months now and have been slowly making progress on its various issues. One of the biggest has been diagnosing the source of what seemed to be an intermittent knocking sound that sounded just like rod knock. I'm pretty sure the engine's internals are fine so I've looked at the accessory drive (thanks to number9 for giving me that tip about a belt tensioner mimicking a knock).

I have done a lot to the accessories on the front of the engine. New serpentine belt, new idler pulley bearings, new belt tensioner, new crank pulley (old one was wobbly), new water pump, new fan clutch, and a new AC compressor clutch bearing. The engine is significantly quieter now with all those bad bearings replaced, but I can still hear noise coming from the compressor. The pulley still has play in it, even with a new bearing, and obviously wobbles when the engine is on. It's like the new bearing made no difference.

So my question is: is there another bearing inside the compressor that I can replace? Or do I need to get another compressor? Do I need a new clutch assembly?

Thanks in advance everyone.
And I need to update my build thread soon.

 

Would like to add that it looks like there's a second snap ring behind the clutch and pulley so it looks like there should be a replaceable bearing? I would take it off and check myself but I'm not sure if this would release the refrigerant from the system.