Noise from one of the engine ancilliaries i think
 

I have a noise that sounds rather like a boiling kettle. It comes when first starting the engine, and has been going after things warm up. The noise does not seem to change with engine revs, and it is not road related as this is with the car staitionary.

At first i thought the cabin fans were on high speed, but is still there with the fans turned off. It is not the engine cooling fan.

Any pointers which of the ancilliaries is likely? My guess was water pump or air con compressor. My air con also doesnt work, which made me think they could be connected

Have you got an FBH fitted David?

Yes but it was not operating at the time, and the noise starts immediately the engine is turned on.

Could you give us an idea of the actual location of the sound please ??

Listening down a piece of tube can often help to find the location of an unusual noise..

It is definitely from the belt end of the engine. I tried using pipe but the noise sounds the same from all of the anciliaries. I rule out the water pump now because the noise seems to be from the front side of the engine, but which one i may only find out by having the belt off and spinning them by hand.

The fbh suggestion had me thinking because the noise does sound a bit like the exhaust from that, but i unplugged it and the noise remains.

Has a slightly squeaky undertone to it, my guess is a bearing going on either the pas pump or alternator. Could be the ac compressor but if anything could be gleamed from the pipe it was that the noise is a bit louder near the top.

Investigations now suspended due to bad weather

Could be the belt tensioner roller.

The compressor insides only turn if the air-con is switched on.

Am currently thinking to take it to Jules. The air con needs repairing anyway, and I suspect the compressor because that is what was faulty the last time, and although it was repaired i suspect it had a secondary fault because it only lasted about a year before failing again, and jules mentioned at the time being confused why it had failed and thought it must have jammed for some reason as the gasses were ok. I wonder if the peculiar noise could be the compressor clutch doing something strange.

I had also just pressed the demist button when i first noticed the noise.

I also thought about the tensioner, but the noise sounds more like something at the front of the engine rather than on the end.