1.5dci k9k engine rattle

[whitemarmite]

hi all, first post as I am stuck and hoping there is someone on here with more knowledge on my issue. as i cant find anything on here or other forums about it

about 12 months ago, i was experiencing extended cold cranks. puffs of white smoke on startup, with stuttering intermittently when driving and rattling/tapping. a round of refurbished injectors, fuel system flush and labour for about £900 total. apparently swarf in the injectors is common for the k9k lumps. it fixed nearly everything, until about 3 months ago.

my new issues are rattling (and not the usual diesel rattle), they occur when cruising along and hovering the throttle between full load and fully off throttle. it sounds like an extremely cold diesel engine, but it happens when hot or cold but quieter when hot. its quieter after a fresh tank of fuel, and does get worse when lower on fuel. i also get a rhythmic knock when in 3rd/4th and accelerate from 20mph to 40mph which increases in frequency with speed. Doesn’t sound like a bearing though.

My local garage, who I do trust as they weren’t wrong before, have said that its likely the tapping of the valve train. The noise going away when the engine is under load, due to the slack being taken up. Which makes sense to me, but peculiar that the fuel level affects it as well. They have said they're happy to take a look, but they wouldn't know how deep they will end up going £££

has anyone got any experience with this? I can try to get a video up to show the issues later. thanks in advance

 

[Sparky2018]

A video showing what's happening would help others determine what they think it may be.
I don't know myself but gonna ask milage, does the car service regular, what type of fuel do you fill with regular diesel or that bio diesel ect.

 

[whitemarmite]

A video showing what's happening would help others determine what they think it may be.
I don't know myself but gonna ask milage, does the car service regular, what type of fuel do you fill with regular diesel or that bio diesel ect.

i will aim to get one up asap,

as for the other bits, its got 96k on it. it was serviced regularly by the original owner, all stamped in the book. i get the oil changed every year with the MOT, as its a turbo i know they can fail if the oil isnt done often enough. for fuel i always fill up at a shell whenever available, every now and then i wll fill it with Vpower but otherwise just regular.

 

[Sparky2018]

A second opinion is always good to have you might find it to be a simple fix or that it's not as bad as you think.
Sounds alright from the milage it's not too low or too high for a dci engine.
Sometimes the low mileage ones experience problems too surprisingly but those engines made to be driven long distance.
This is interesting so thanks for posting and hope that your issue solves soon for you.

 

[whitemarmite]

im hoping its nothing, just me being cautious.
here is the link to the video

clip 1&2 are to highlight the rattle, engine is cold to help it be more noticable clips 3&4 are to highlight the knocking when in 3rd/4th accelerating (some rattle there too) and clip 5 to try to highlight the noise better. night need the volume up to hear it, and headphones. hopefully its helpful

 

[Mach1]

K12 diesels are usually bullet proof, however said that they tend to be heavy on suspension and undercarriage. the swarf you mension is usually from a worn fuel pump but generally on very high unserviced cars. I would ask you to change the fuel filter and glow pugs if needed also check the bushes on the subframe and stabalising bar bushes tend to give you rattles and vibrations. i have changed all the engine mounts which has cured the vibration problems on mine. When was the last time the cam belt/water pump changed? also a rattle can come from a worn auto tensioner from the aux belt. If there is no fault codes on the cpu I would check up on the problems above.One last point I recommend you adding the following additive in the diesel it will clean out and lubricate the whole fuel system and engine (look up the benefits including increased MPG)

Archoil AR6900-D Max Advanced Diesel Fuel Synthesis 500ml Super Diesel Converter | eBay

ARCHOIL AR6900-D MAX ADVANCED FUEL SYNTHESIS. AR6900-D MAX has been engineered to clean, lubricate and protect the fuel system whilst enhancing combustion performance through the use of a cetane improver and Archoil’s combustion catalyst.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[whitemarmite]

K12 diesels are usually bullet proof, however said that they tend to be heavy on suspension and undercarriage. the swarf you mension is usually from a worn fuel pump but generally on very high unserviced cars. I would ask you to change the fuel filter and glow pugs if needed also check the bushes on the subframe and stabalising bar bushes tend to give you rattles and vibrations. i have changed all the engine mounts which has cured the vibration problems on mine. When was the last time the cam belt/water pump changed? also a rattle can come from a worn auto tensioner from the aux belt. If there is no fault codes on the cpu I would check up on the problems above.One last point I recommend you adding the following additive in the diesel it will clean out and lubricate the whole fuel system and engine (look up the benefits including increased MPG)

Archoil AR6900-D Max Advanced Diesel Fuel Synthesis 500ml Super Diesel Converter | eBay

ARCHOIL AR6900-D MAX ADVANCED FUEL SYNTHESIS. AR6900-D MAX has been engineered to clean, lubricate and protect the fuel system whilst enhancing combustion performance through the use of a cetane improver and Archoil’s combustion catalyst.

www.ebay.co.uk

thanks for the information, the filter was changed when they flushed the system. possibly worth changing it again soon, just to eliminate that as an issue. is that a worn high pressure pump, or the lift pump?

as for the other bits, the glow plugs were changed at about 50k, the cam belt/waterpump were done at 85k. one of the enginemounts was changed at 93k due to a bolt shearing off (cam belt change caused this) will definitly ask the garage to have a look at these items during the next service and MOT.

i do have some hydra addative that i use every now and then, but might use something else when that runs out.

 

[Mach1]

The rhythmic knock you mention may be typical of worn subframe bushes, as they tend to be more noticable under load or coming off load as the subframe tends to rock about under the stresses, It took ages for me to source this problem but the bushes are cheap but heavy on labour time, so best let the garage check these bushes first, If the rubber has come away from the bush lining then they need replacing, there is a video on nissan note front sub frame bushes, as the cars share similar parts it will give you an idea of what is involved if indeed the bushes are worn?

 

[emanuele]

im hoping its nothing, just me being cautious.
here is the link to the video

clip 1&2 are to highlight the rattle, engine is cold to help it be more noticable clips 3&4 are to highlight the knocking when in 3rd/4th accelerating (some rattle there too) and clip 5 to try to highlight the noise better. night need the volume up to hear it, and headphones. hopefully its helpful

Hey, did you ever found what the issue was ? i got the exact noise. Mechanic said is normal but is very annoying. Car running fine, it has 90k miles now. when i noticed the rattle it had 76k miles. if it was engine wear i think it wold have gone by now.