Hi there,

First post here as I'm looking to buy a 2006 1.8 TDCI Titanium S Max, I went to see the car tonight and was all set to buy it when I heard a strange noise at about 2000 rpm.

Its hard to describe the noise but it was almost a spinning scrapey type noise, heard at about 2000 rpm in 2nd/3rd gear when driving but also when idling the car - always at about 2000 rpm, heard both when revving up and down. It seemed to be coming from the front left of the car but when opening the bonnet and revving to 2000 rpm I could hear it within the engine bay somewhere. It didnt affect the performance of the car, the owner said he'd heard it for a while but it was intermittent and never affected the performance, he took it to his garage but they couldnt reproduce it. Driving the car was fine, both when hearing the noise and past 2000 rpm (it didnt affect acceleration etc).

It may well be something minor (engine mount?) but my fear is that I buy the car and it turns out to be something major :-( My first thought was that something was loose and being vibrated when the engine reverberated at 2000 rpm (hence hearing it in gear and idling at 2000 rpm) but I'm nervous about buying without having a clue what it is.

Does anyone have any ideas please? Its urgent as he apparently has another buyer lined up so any ideas would be massively appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

Well, cars make noises - especially diesels, so it might be nothing, or nothing important

On the other hand it may be something more serious, like the DMF (Dual Mass Flywheel) on its "way out"

Thanks very much for the reply :-)

It sounded like something like that due to the "spinny" nature of the noise (sorry I know the description is terrible but its hard to describe), however I've had a flywheel go on a Saab 9-5 previously and it only made the noise when the clutch was engaged - the S Max noise is when the clutch is out at 2000 rpm, hence me thinking it probably wasnt that...

What's the mileage and has it had the belts and replaced with full new complete kits mine used to intermantly whistle or squeal so to speak when under load (acceleration) didn't do it for long it spat the belt off at tick over and took out the top end of the engine . booked it in at the garage soon as it started and a week later it failed mine is a petrol bare in mind . once it was moving it stopped making the noise I was devostated the belt was £23 at the time and tensioner was £65 rebuild cost me best part of £2000 I had only had the car 5 months at the time always worth a look