Hi All,

 

2008

Ford fiesta zetec
steel 2 1.2 5DR
55KW

So recently my fiesta started making a grinding sound coming from the front passenger side of the car sounds like blending ice cubes, but as there was a long period of extreme cold weather I just thought that had something to do with it. Now the grinding sound has gotten a lot worse but can only really hear it when the engine is idle.

The sound seems to be coming from behind the passenger side headlight and under the battery area, the engine was extremely low on oil, but refilled and let the engine run for a while but hasn't done anything for the sound though having low oil may be the cause of the issue. I know the front brakes need changing and I want to look at trying to fix this issue as well but not sure what is causing this sound. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you.

Here is a link to the video of the sound:

 

Well that sounds horrific! 

Two suggestions from me - 1. A gearbox bearing eating itself.  2. Clutch spring finger popped out and scraping the bellhousing.

Does the noise stop or change at all when you press the clutch?

It does sound terminal I'm afraid, I hope it isn't

Today the OP is listening to ... 'Heavy Metal' 😉

so no idea how but it is coming from the from passengers light:

 

Damaged headlight leveling motor running continuously?

So to be clear, are you saying that it makes this noise with the engine off but ignition on?

And can you FEEL the vibration when you are holding the headlight unit?

If yes to both, then I think agraham is probably right (unless you don't have headlight levelling!),

Seems like that could be it, seems to always makes noise but settles down when i drive or just makes it hard to hear it

Hey, alanfp, So yeah I think agraham may be right, I removed the light away from the car while still plugged in and running and the sound was coming from there. And the sound slowly dies when I shut off the engine. 

Here is a link to a repair video but is the same headlight, I looked up the leveling motor but I didn't remember seeing a motor look manual to me if that's a thing but I could be very wrong.
 

 

So I went outside and unscrewed it and took a look inside, And I was able to find the leveling motor and the source of the sound, I saw a few metal bolts around it and gave them a few squirts of wd40 PTFE and no more grinding but a low continues squeak. But now I know what part needs to be replaced I can live with a little squeak for a while. Thanks, everyone for all your input, It helped me a lot.
 

 

Amazing how a video can make it sound like it's dying LOL

Thank God it was just the levelling motor

1 hour ago, DaveT70 said:

Thank God it was just the levelling motor

Yes, the low oil level red herring was worrying.

I don’t think they would have self levelling would they? Would it just have manually adjustable , by the headlamp switch. So it probably doesn’t really need to be motorised. Just disconnect and make sure beam aim is correct. Of course if you regularly need to carry heavy weights in your car then perhaps you do want it adjustable. If the adjustment motor went wrong on my car I wouldn’t bother replacing it as I don’t need it.  (If you have xenon headlamps I know self levelling is required by law / mot rules)

Well seems like there may be more than just the level motor that is an issue, When I first heard the grinding sound I thought I noticed the car also lost power when driving on the motorway, and going uphill required going down a gear but wasn't sure if just paranoid due to the grinding sound. But once the grinding sound was located I brushed it off as paranoia and it was coming from the level motor. But driving on the motorway yesterday the car started shaking when getting up to 120Kmh and I think it might have felt like it was shaking somewhere underneath me in the middle of the car it feels like the drive shaft but I have no clue. Then going uphill slightly greatly reduced the speed down to 90-100Kmh, Stopped off in the city then returned home, well up a long uphill, and the car went all the way down to 50Kmh had to drop the gears down to 3 to start to accelerate again. The level motor is still plugged in and I can still hear it buzz but not grind anymore due to the WD40. But could the continuous going effect the battery and then cause my issue now? or am I in real trouble?

If the headlamp motor is making a noise all of the time I don’t think it should be left plugged in as there’s obviously something wrong there and it’s using power and will possibly burn out, short, melt perhaps. But I can’t really see that being linked to the engine power reduction. If that was causing an electrical problem that affected the engine I would think the effect would be more dramatic eg. Cutting out. 

oh ook yeah ill go ahead and remove it for now, then try to get it down to a machine when I get time. Thanks for the reply.

Wanted to come back and give an update to thank everyone for their advice, So ended up taking it to the garage and turns out the issue for the slow car was the front brakes. I did have them parts looked up beforehand anyway as there was a few things i wanted to replace like oil and petrol filters and wiper blades and some other stuff so that was ok he said he would replace it. Though when I got the car back he mentioned he didnt replace it and just bleed the brake lines and toped them up, as he felt like he didn't need to replace them right now and next time if they were needed he would. Not sure how long the breaks have been an issue and its my own fault but damn is it a quick yoke, drove it home and felt like a whole new car. I have NCT in April so here hope everything from now till then goes ok. Thanks, everyone for your responses and input it really helped.

On 2/3/2023 at 12:36 PM, LewFiesta said:

I have NCT in April

I was going to wish you all the best for your (or your wife's) forthcoming delivery, but having Googled it, I realise that you're not talking about the National Childbirth Trust!