Hi - I have a problem. Driving back from a holiday towing a light caravan my Doblo started to get noisy over the last 10 miles of the run. Couldn't figure out what the sound was and the car seemed to run ok. When I got home I found the engine was making a knocking sound which was worse at idle and sounded reminiscent of badly set up tappets rattling, also the engine was vibrating in its mounts as if out of balance somehow. The sound tends to diminish with increasing revs. Any ideas out there I cant see anything obvious but I am long out of touch working on vehicles.

Thanks for any help.

What model and engine is it?

It's an ELX JTD 1.9 turbo diesel.
Just noticed your comments about the coincidence with the other guys problem. Not related believe it or not!

Engine mount?

Pulley wheels and tensioners on aux belt drive?

I did a long hard drive not too long ago and ended up with a rattle on start up and at low revs - very rattly!

Three pulley wheels and a new engine mount have cured it. The engine now no longer rocks on start up, which it must have been doing for quite a while and which i had acceped as normal...

I'd done nearly 90,000 miles by the way.

Obviously it's impossible to confirm that our problems are identical, but on reflection I am conscious that the engine must had been on the blink for quite a while. I say that because we become adapted to incremental strange noises, particlarly if we have had the same car for nine years

Thanks for the replies so far. The EGR and pulleys are the most likely source from what I have been reading on this forum, but my wife took it to the garage today and they think it is a problem with the injectors - only £500 to fix!! This is the same place that fitted new discs when it had a problem with a misaligned exhaust hitting the underside of the vehicle when going around corners. An exhaust they had fitted. I had to show them the worn metal on the exhaust to convince them!
I hope they are not way off the mark with this problem.
The vehicle is almost 10 yrs old by the way.
I'll post the outcome for the records.

"they think it is a problem with the injectors - only £500 to fix"

I think theyre very free and easy with your cash.

Is the garage a proper Fiat dealer?

I say that because although a decent garage can do routine servicing very well I always take mine to the dealer when something unusual happens.

Specialised technicians have experience with Fiats and can often get to the root of the problem successfully.

Saying that, I do think I am living on borrowed time with mine: I am paying roughly £500 on top of routine servicing a year now for replacement bits, and I still haven't replaced the clutch yet Hence my serious consideration about replacing the car in the new year.

Yep a proper Fiat dealer. The y seem to have fixed it. My wife picked up the car today and running fine on the trip home. Fault was due to one injector overfueling (suspect dirt).
Clean and refit injectors. £427 + VAT for tracing problem and putting right! Say hey had to send it to a specialist to test the injectors. So hopefully that is it.
By the way I am on my second clutch; the Doblo doesn't like reversing up steep inclines!

Yep a proper Fiat dealer. They seem to have fixed it. My wife picked up the car today and running fine on the trip home.
Fault was due to one injector overfueling (suspect dirt).
Clean and refit injectors. £427 + VAT for tracing problem and putting right! Say they had to send it to a specialist to test the injectors. So hopefully that is it.
By the way I am on my second clutch; the Doblo doesn't like reversing up steep inclines!

Thanks for the interest.

Well on my parents doblo 1.3 diesel there was a awful rattling coming off the engine unfortunately they didn't listen mother went down the rd and chain had stretched and in the process bent some valves and caused over a €1000 of damage to the engine