MX5 odd noise

[The Moose]

A mate of mine (fellow mk1 owner) popped in this evening with his car asking me about a rather odd noise coming from the front end of his (1.8) engine.

To me, it sounds like a rotational noise from the pulley area at the front of the engine, but nothing felt loose in any way. This was obvious at idle and was still there with the engine at speed.

Any ideas guys?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Any play in any of the pulleys? Could be bearings...

[MX-5 Lazza]

Try spraying water on the belts to make sure it's not belt noise.
Could it be a noisy water pump?

[The Moose]

Pulleys all seemed good to me (I'm not a mechanic though!!)

I'll get him to sling some water on the pulleys/belts and see what happens!

[The Moose]

Just called me back and it's made no difference.

[NiceCupOfTea]

can't remember on the 5, but are there separate belts for a/c & power steering? You might want to pull them off one by one and see if the noise stops. I tracked down a noise on my Saab to a snapped mounting bolt on the a/c compressor when it was engaged.

[The Moose]

NiceCupOfTea said:

can't remember on the 5, but are there separate belts for a/c & power steering? You might want to pull them off one by one and see if the noise stops. I tracked down a noise on my Saab to a snapped mounting bolt on the a/c compressor when it was engaged.

Might be hard - no AC or power steering on that car

[NiceCupOfTea]

And people say there's less to go wrong on poverty spec UK cars!

[MX-5 Lazza]

Could well be the water pump then. Do you know when it last had a cam-belt changed and if it had the water pump changed at the same time?

[The Moose]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Could well be the water pump then. Do you know when it last had a cam-belt changed and if it had the water pump changed at the same time?

Cam belt done 9k miles ago. Doesn't know about the water pump. Will get him to call the chap who works on the car.