right then got a 2.0td (1998 exdi Lseries with air con),, had a nasty rattle from my engine bay for a while now and its driving me mental,,, its coming from low down on the drivers side...

ive changed my auxillary drive belt as it was buggered beyond belief, ive taken off the tensioner and had a good look and fiddle but its absolutly fine.......

it appears to be from either the crank or the power steering pump! i did notice a bit of play in the power steering pulley when i changed the belt so thinking this could be the issue! is there a service kit available for the pump so i can stop the rattle? the power steering still works fine btw........

the thing that makes me think it could be a crank issue is as follows and sorry for not having a pic which i know would help!! - - the crank pulley appears to have been replaced at some point as is very clean, its green but got an unpainted circle about halfway though is circumfrance,, ive noticed the metal seems to have some light surface cracks / chipping about .5mm thick alsmost as thought the metal is flaking or shattering,, could this be an indication of a much bigger issue / the rattle coming from here?

i have considered taking the belt off again and rinngi for 30 seconds to see if the rattle stops but dont liek the idea of no coolant going round my engine!

forgot to mention,,, the rattle is far worse when the engine is cold but once up to temperatur backs right off to a light rattle other than between 1500-3000rpm where its still fairly bad!

if anyone is in dorset and fancies a nosey for me please feel free as i pay in beer!