Metallic rattling from engine of CRD that I want to buy

ericg88 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:34 pm **Posts:** 16

There is a CRD for sale near me with 192k miles on it. It drives great and it feels like it has a lot of power but it has a very distinct metallic rattling sound coming from the engine. The seller says he's had mechanics look at it and can't find the source, but they say it runs great. he claims it goes away after some time but I let it run for over 20 minutes and it seemed to get slightly worse, if anything.

Here's a short video of the sound while idling: https://youtu.be/lJ5yse0LFAc

Any ideas? I've quickly fallen in love with the idea of owning one of these little diesel jeeps but that sound scares me.

GordnadoCRD · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2019 12:18 am

Could be the alternator overrunning clutch
Could be an AC or Viscous Heater clutch bearing.
Could be a serpentine belt tensioner
Could be a harmonic dampener pulley failure
Could be something contacting the stock metal engine fan.
Possibly something turbo/exhaust related
Could be Torque Converter bolts backing/backed out

Anyone else wanna chime in? I'm getting to the more expensive stuff, so I need more information before going down any other rabbit holes.

geordi · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2019 2:02 am

ericg88 wrote:

There is a CRD for sale near me with 192k miles on it. It drives great and it feels like it has a lot of power but it has a very distinct metallic rattling sound coming from the engine. The seller says he's had mechanics look at it and can't find the source, but they say it runs great. he claims it goes away after some time but I let it run for over 20 minutes and it seemed to get slightly worse, if anything.

I have a short video of the sound but I don't think i can attach it here (or i don't know how).

Any ideas? I've quickly fallen in love with the idea of owning one of these little diesel jeeps but that sound scares me.

Send me the video and I'll post it through my online space: jeep [at] maincomputer [dot] com

Where are you located? There are a bunch of these for sale that I know about, I'm the traveling CRD tech and likely your best point of contact if you need anything done on one of these. This is the ONLY vehicle I work on. I can help find you a good one!

JieselDeep · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:37 am

I vote for the Harmonic Dampener pulley. It's easy to overlook when you're searching for a sound. It's also difficult to figure out where the sound is actually coming from since the fan blades bounce the sound all over.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:47 pm

If it is just at idle speed, it is most likely the motor mounts. They are notorious for rattling at idle.
Many CRD owners have replaced them to get rid of the rattle.

ericg88 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 03, 2019 8:34 pm **Posts:** 16

I uploaded the video to youtube: https://youtu.be/lJ5yse0LFAc

I also found four other videos of CRDs making very similar noises. Two of them said it turned out to be a bad harmonic balancer, another guy said his problem was the flex plate and bolts, last guy never commented on the fix.

A mechanic I work with said that it might be a loose bearing which would be the worst case scenario, but he doesn't know anything about these small diesels.

I'm in Dallas. This thing is very clean inside and out. Frame is in excellent shape. She drove well and felt like she had plenty of power, but I don't have prior experience in one of these as reference.

pulsenpal · **Joined:** Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:53 am **Posts:** 42

remove plastic crd cover and leave this off if you buy crd

use stethoscope with 24 inch metal tube--auto type and you likely will isolate source

suggestive of airconditioner compressor clutch disc origin

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:35 pm

Loose flex plate bolts , harmonic balancer bolts loose or balancer bad. or bad motor mounts can all cause the noise you are hearing.
Another possibility after listening to your video, is a bad tensioner pulley for the serpentine belt. Easy enough to eliminate.
Simply remove the serpentine belt, start engine and see if noise goes away.? If it does you have at least narrowed down the location.
The alternator has a one way override pulley and it to can when bad can made a clicking noise especially at idle.
You have got to pinpoint the general area where the noise is coming from using either a mechanics stethoscope or a length of hose that you can more around and listen to pinpoint the location.

Metallic rattling from engine of CRD that I want to buy

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