hi everyone, looking for abit of help, i have a mx5 mk1 mariner blue, she is a 1.6 engine, i have recently started to hear a noise which sounds like it’s coming from one of the pulleys. it doesn’t sound like the engine sounds like it’s the middle pulley ( not the lower one) what is this? it doesn’t do it everytime it’s like a tapping noise. I have no loss of power and oil pressure is ok. I changed the oil and filter but it is still doing it. I was just wondering if anyone near the nottinghamshire county so they can listen to her.
thanks everyone, hope it’s not a new engine, there is some play in the pulley when you wiggle it.
Sounds like you’re talking about the water pump pulley (the upper one on the front of the engine, above the crank pulley). Is it losing coolant? If you reach right down under the front of the engine with some kitchen paper, you can “wipe the chin” of the sump. If there’s a leak then that will probably come back stained with brightly coloured dried-on coolant. Then again, the play in the pulley which you describe is a pretty sure sign.
Not the end of the world if the water pump’s failing, but the cambelt needs to come off to change the pump, so factor a cambelt change into the cost of replacement. (If you’re lucky maybe that was just about due anyway…)
thanks for the reply, im not losing any water, but i have ordered a new pump and complete cambelt kit. lets hope it’s that many thanks. not done a pump or cambelt change yet on her so it might be well over due. don’t know when she had one last.
