Greetings, I seek your wise guidance on an issue having surfaced this afternoon...

I have a 2004 X-Type 3.0 (~141,000 miles) and while driving home tonight, I noticed a somewhat loud noise from the engine compartment-- seemingly from behind the radiator when I opened the hood/bonnet.

I asked a repair shop (it was on my way home) and he said that it sounded like a belt or pulley might be the issue.

He also mentioned that he could smell a coolant leak and pointed out that the coolant reservoir was low.

Additionally, the oil pressure light came on, and so I checked the oil and found the oil level to be fine, thus something else appears to be causing it.

The repair shop advised not driving it for long as he believed it was on the verge of something major-- admittedly, he didn't know specifically what was wrong without taking it in for a diagnosis, but with all these symptoms, it surely doesn't sound good.

Does anyone have guidance/ideas of what might be wrong and how to resolve this Engine Noise + Low Coolant + Oil Pressure Light issue?

I greatly appreciate any guidance-- thank you for all your help!

 

DBlair, based on you saying you have a low oil pressure condition (oil light being on) and a pulley type noise (probably sounds like someone taking a small hammer and tapping the hell out of the block), that is telling me that you have an oil pump that is going out. The noise you are hearing is the valves making noise due to not having sufficient oil pressure to keep things under strain.

As for the coolant leak, I would start with the overflow bottle and look at the lines coming off of it. Specifically the one up against the firewall. If you look at the opaque plastic part of the nipple, if you see a white line in the plastic, the tank is cracked and you will need to fix this (normally this is fixed by installing a new tank). If the tank connections look good, then I would look in the opening behind the battery. You will be looking at the top of the transmission. If you see coolant there, then odds are your water pump is leaking and it needs to be replaced.