Strange noise.

[ducati2242]

My 05 3.0i x5 has developed a strange grating sort of noise from the front of the engine.Its not there on start up but develops when the engine settles down to normal tick over. I thought it was the vanos at first but decided to change the pulleys and the belts . Made no diference still there.
I then took the serpentine belt off , left the air con belt on , and started it up. No noise . So its either the alternator , the water pump or the steering pump . None of them make any noise when I spin them by hand . Although the steering pump makes a bit of a rattle when I spin it left/right quickly with my fingers. Its a dry grating sort of noise similar to the vanos rattle .
The x only has 30k miles and has been dealer serviced up till now. Any Ideas as to what you think it may be are more than welcome.

[Isambard]

Check for signs of leaking from them. Any leakage is a tell-tale sign..

[julezw]

Originally Posted by ducati2242

My 05 3.0i x5 has developed a strange grating sort of noise from the front of the engine.Its not there on start up but develops when the engine settles down to normal tick over. I thought it was the vanos at first but decided to change the pulleys and the belts . Made no diference still there.
I then took the serpentine belt off , left the air con belt on , and started it up. No noise . So its either the alternator , the water pump or the steering pump . None of them make any noise when I spin them by hand . Although the steering pump makes a bit of a rattle when I spin it left/right quickly with my fingers. Its a dry grating sort of noise similar to the vanos rattle .
The x only has 30k miles and has been dealer serviced up till now. Any Ideas as to what you think it may be are more than welcome.

Hi Ducati, any news on the noise?

[ducati2242]

Originally Posted by julezw

Hi Ducati, any news on the noise?

Because of the cost I changed the pulleys , the water pump , the alternator bearings and it is still there . I now have a new steering pump but have yet to fit it , will get it done over xmas , The new pump is much tighter that the existing one and I am now sure it is this. I will report back when it is fitted.

[ducati2242]

Fitted the new steering pump at the weekend . Perfect now no noise at all . By the way my x5 only has 32,000 miles and the pump was making that much noise it sounded like a rattly old diesel. Quite easy to do but was cold with a couple of inches of snow down.