Clattering/Rattle

Hi i have a C3 HDI 1.4 16v which intermittently make this horrible growling, rattly noise (it comes and goes) it gets louder with speed up until about 2000rpm when the engine is louder so the noise is less apparent, if it happened all the time i might think it might be the crank pulley as my dad has a 1.4 HDI 8v and when his crank pulley went wrong it made some horrible noises, however it was a sudden, permanent problem in his and was louder than this, due to reading other peoples posts about similar issues i thought maybe the injectors were at fault, however my car doesnt struggle with starting and seems to have lots of power, as soon as the turbo kicks in, it goes like stink. because this problem goes away sometimes after a harder drive i thought maybe it could be the egr valve (sometimes when the engine is warmed up and i take it to 4000 rpm the noise almost completely disappears) however even when the noise isnt constant you can still hear it occasionally, its hard to explain, its like something spinning around inside something at a high speed, then it stops or the noise is dampened by something, then it comes back and stops again.

here is a video of when the noise was at its worst, just after i had reset the bsi in a daft attempt to solve this problem:

Hi samstagmoonyham

With Mileage: 143000, its known for the crank TVD pulley (click here) to go bad at 100K so if you yours has not been done then this could well be your problem.

It should be done when you do the cam belt which is due at 150k or a few years ago.

C3driver52 wrote:Hi samstagmoonyham

With Mileage: 143000, its known for the crank TVD pulley to go bad at 100K so if you yours has not been done then this could well be your problem.

It should be done when you do the cam belt which is due at 150k or a few years ago.

Hi C3driver52, thanks for the reply, the service book shows the cambelt was done at 100k, however i have no bill for this, so i do not know if the pulley was done at the same time, can the pulley intermittently be a problem whilst its failing? as i say the noise is there sometimes but others its not and sometimes it sounds like something is spinning round the engine then it stops, thinking abouut it, it sounds like the pulley could be slipping its just with my dads car it all of a sudden failed and made a truelly aweful noise that didnt go away till he got the pulley replaced.

i will be happy if its the pulley as i am sure i would able to replace that myself and move past this horrible noise, other than the few faults i have mentioned on this site i love the car and hope it lasts me many years to come.

samstagmoonyham wrote:can the pulley intermittently be a problem whilst its failing?

I don't know, I just change them at the cam belt interval. Others have had similar noise and changed the TVD.

samstagmoonyham wrote: it sounds like something is spinning round the engine then it stops,

Failing bearings can do this, while you have the TVD and its belt off, check the other pulleys on that belt run.

The other bearings are on the cam belt run and these should have all been changed at the same time as the cam belt itself.


The Crank Pulley or TVD pulley on a C3 from Euro Car Parts (click here):



and its location and access on the car:

thanks for the picture, its very helpful, i heard that brown dust on the pulley is an indication that it is failing/has failed, when i take the arch lining out i will check all the pulleys on that run (i guess i just spin them round and listen for any roughness when they are spinning?) are they as easy to remove/replace as the crank pulley is? and yeah i will just have to hope it is something on that run as i really dont fancy doing the camshaft at home and its a £200-£300 job at a garage, once i do the job ill post an update and upload some pictures. Cheers for your help

Hi there!

I had a very similar noise, specially at low revs. Changed that pulley last Saturday (a used one from a Peugeot 206). No more noise.

pedroaniceto wrote:Hi there!

I had a very similar noise, specially at low revs. Changed that pulley last Saturday (a used one from a Peugeot 206). No more noise.

hi, im glad you have managed to solve the issue on your c3, did yours make noise intermittently or all the time?

Intermittent. Let's say that 'till 2.000 rpm the noise was audible, above that it would disappear. In a matter of weeks got worse, it could be heard quite all the time. My english is not very good but I will try to explain: On a visual inspection (from above) you could see the pulley not having a perfect vertical alignment. It would shake a little if pressed. And it was not completely vertical, I could see the belt moving laterally. (Sorry it's the best description I can manage).

When I got the pulley out, the inner part was "eaten". There were tiny little bits of metal on the engine casing. When I shook the pulley the inner part (that works like a small clutch) was moving far more than the one I had as replacement. I am no mechanic, I did it with the help of an expert.

The only tricky part is blocking the engine from moving when you get the central bolt out. (Not to mention getting the wheel arch lining out with is always a bloody nightmare). He got a large screwdriver between the start engine and the engine itself. Maybe someone here will explain a little better as I don't know the exact terms in english. With the engine blocked the bolt is quite easy to remove. Had no need to get the wheel out (but it would make things easier). Replace the pulley, replace the generator/AC belt, refast the tension thing and you're on.

Thanks for the information pedroaniceto

pedroaniceto wrote:The only tricky part is blocking the engine from moving when you get the central bolt out.

There is a hole in the flywheel and bellhousing, which when aligned, allow a bar or large allen key to be inserted. You will probably need to disconnect the exhaust flexy pipe to get access to the holes.

The inserted bar locks the rotation of the flywheel against the bell housing making it easier to undo the crank pulley bolt and also to torque it back up (35Nm then a further 190 degree turn to tighten).


and the inner wheel arch removal can be aided with a tool.




Inner arch clip removal tool made from a scrap bracket.

ah yeah i heard you had to remove the cat pipe to lock the flywheel, i also heard that that is another way you can do it although i am not sure i would do it to my tools, you can connect a breaker bar to the crank pulley bolt and put the breaker bar on the ground or somewhere it will not move in the engine bay and then turn the turn the starter motor over once and that should undo the bolt (please dont try that at home though!!)