Technical Rattling on idle

[al_scott]

My 2.4TD has developed a problem this weekend...

I think the glowplugs have gone, so it's been hard to start on cold mornings. On Saturday it took about 20 seconds to start. After which it ran on a couple of cylinders for a few seconds, then settled down to a clattery idle. This is alot more clattery than the normal noise it makes, in fact it's more of a rattle.

If I raise the RPM slightly, the rattle goes away and it sounds normal. If I let the revs drop again, it rattles again.

The rattling is worse if I turn the steering. I suspect that the steering pump needs replacing, because it has been groaning for a while on cold mornings. Also, it has been pushing power steering oil out of the vent hole in the resevoir lid. The noise is coming from the engine somewhere near the cambelt.

Any ideas? Anyone replaced a steering pump before? Is it expensive?

 

[pbemtb]

for what its worth i had something similar in my 1.9 td100 which was caused by a faulty main drive belt tensioner

 

[jakelewis2670]

mine rattled a lot when idling, found out it was the chain in the oil pump rattling. VERY EXPENSIVE job. parts and labour cost me nearly 700 quid:yuck:

 

[al_scott]

The garage has confirmed that it's the power steering pump that's gone. I can't afford to fix it though, so the car is just sitting in the car park at work.

I'm going to sell the car I think because I can't afford to fix it. Will probably put it on eBay soon as spares or repair.

It's a shame really because it's a nice car and the engine is a sweet as a nut. I just can't afford to spend any money on it at the moment.

If anyone's interested in buying it, let me know.

Cheers

Al

p.s, it's an estate by the way.