Knocking from engine, vid included

@ glenn, sounds is DEFINITELY coming from the left of the engine as you look at it, and oh feck, thanks for the heads up, the temp has been "showing" as being fine, and I always check for mayo etc and haven't found any...yet so I really hope you're wrong, last thing I need the bloody head gasket going. The car's only done 58000 miles, the last ten in the two years I've had it, can't be the head gasket surely?

That's proper pi55ed on my bonfire that has lol

Salta, I am definitely not confident enough of working on an engine, let alone a running one, I'd take me hand off im sure lol.

Hoping it is the ac pulley or bearing or whatever, seen a video of a ford taurus on youtube where the guy was able to move it freely by hand when the engine was not running and the sound was exactly like mine.

I think it makes more sense being somethign else though re headgasket as it stops making the noise when the engine has warmed up, and I am thinking using my laymans logic that if it was a bearing or a pulley the noise would be consistently there wether the engine was warm or not?

definitely haven't ruled out the HG, in fact I'm preparing for the worst, just hope it isn't as looking at some figures on here for other's who have had the HG done, its getting close to decision time as to whether I should buy another car, and I really do not want to do that.

and ahhhh on the hg info, I didn't realise that, I thought mixing of oil and water was the tell tale sign kinda thing.

On the plus side, if I do get another car, it will either be another st24, or a v6 ghia x, or possibly a very early mk3 but hopefully it won't come to that as I really can't afford it, but a car is a necessity for me... as it is for most really.

I'm a mature student, and get an instalment of my student loan in April so has come at the right time, it's just what to do for the best if the repairs run into the £700+ territory, is it gonna be worth paying that for a car that's only worth £1000 max?

I'm even debating as to whether to bother with the air con place tomorrow and just take it round the garage on tuesday as I had planned regardless, as the chances of it being something to do with the air con are minimal I suppose, yet my garage could fix that if it was but the air con place wont do the hg if it's that.

Wish I knew a bit about engines ffs

appreciate the advice L11xxy but I just don't trust myself to do something like that on my own, If I could watch someone do it first, or do it in front of someone else who knew what they were doing, no problem, but as it is, I'd rather leave it be for the professionals to sort.

Quite gutted actually as the car is a belter, low mileage, damn good bodywork, just one rear arch is getting the very very first signs of rust, and the interior is tip top. I think it's probably worth spending to get it fixed rather than replaced when looking at it as a whole, and I always planned on keeping this car for a good few years, just never easy looking at the prospect of forking out several hundred pounds that could have gone towards other things on the car at my own pace kinda thing.

What a pisser, I'll keep everyone informed of the outcome anyway, and bang the vid in the sticky about engine vid's and diagnoses once I get word from the garage, then it might help others with a diagnoses also if they come across the same thing.

ive thought about a new engine if it is the hg on this one but not being very savvy with such things it would be just my luck to buy one and find that needed its hg doing as well.

The garage i'm taking it tomorrow is a small local independent and he is superb with his prices and help etc the only thing is he likes to moan a bit about awkward jobs, so if it is the hg I'm half expecting him to say he can't do it... but we shall wait and see on that count, if that's what happens though i'm stuck, as there's a few bad garages round here.

can I ask a seperate question though regarding hg failure.

I have seen another car being broken at the moment rather than fixed because its head gasket has failed, and you changed the engine altogether when yours failed.

Is that simply down to cost of the repair, or because if the head gasket goes, then even once repaired the engine is never the same again type of thing?

thanks for ya best wishes too, I hope its something straightforward but I suppose preparing for the worst is the best strategy at the moment.

i went thru a similar garage - a friend of my girlf's family, they have small overheads and so were the only garage near me willing to talk about my options!! The options they gave me were:

1. pay to have the heads removed, then sent off for testing to determine if it could be rectified by skimming etc, followed by cost to carry out the work if possible. They estimated £1400.00 in my case for this (i.e. to diagnose and try to fix my existing engine - no guarantees, could pay to have heads removed and find it's irrepairable and so an instant write-off with warped heads removed!!)

2. source another engine and do a straight swap, £400 odd for labour, oil/gaskets etc.

As i went the cheaper second route, I can't say what the long-term effect would have been for getting my exiting heads treated..as far as i know though the engine should be fine provided they do a good job and put in new gaskets (obviously..!!).

My newer engine came with a 3-month warranty bear in mind - Trent's, where i got it from, are well known down here. They're a scrappage/salvage yard with a few other regional sites, definitely worth contacting them - search Trent's in Poole, Dorset. I saw a V6 in the scrap yard in Poole Saturday when i was rummaging for air cleaner box clips they've nearly always got one in! they recondition the engines before resale. I picked mine up to save on carriage - though it's likely to be wrapped on a pallet!

there's no cheap option in the event of hg failure (unless you're a proper mech!), £700 odd was still quite hard to swallow and spending the money gave me a fair bit of stick from the lads at work that didn't want me to get the st24 in the first place..! What can you do though, i love my ST24

Bobsy