"Girning" at tick over.

[Jocko]

I have a 2009 1.4 16V (BXW engine). It as done 70,000 miles. It has a "Girning" sound at tick over, which disappears with any increase in revs. It only starts once the engine warms up. It is a grumble/rumble and what worries me is my wife, who is not a driver and totally not mechanically minded, said to me today, "That doesn't sound very healthy".

It makes the noise irrespective of clutch up or down so it appears to be engine related. The car had a new set of timing belts fitted, by a main dealer, at 26,500 miles but I have no history since.

Any idea what it is likely to be and should I be worried about it? Being disabled I am unable to do any work on the car myself.

[sepulchrave]

44 minutes ago, Jocko said:

...what worries me is my wife, who is not a driver and totally not mechanically minded, said to me today, "That doesn't sound very healthy".

 

That doesn't make any sense, if someone doesn't know anything then you needn't take any notice of them since it's obviously not an expert opinion.

 

I suspect the auxiliary belt tensioner or one of the auxiliary services driven by the belt, to confirm, simply remove the belt and restart the engine briefly.

[Paws4Thot]

1 hour ago, Jocko said:

It has a "Girning" sound at tick over

Don't understand; Definition of "girning".

[Jocko]

18 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

That doesn't make any sense, if someone doesn't know anything then you needn't take any notice of them since it's obviously not an expert opinion.

What I mean is, it is obviously well noticeable. As a driver you listen to your car and are aware of little noises, however a lay passenger, like my wife, never notices anything unless it smacks her  in the face.

[Jocko]

5 minutes ago, Paws4Thot said:

Don't understand; Definition of "girning".

Girning. SCOTTISH•NORTHERN ENGLISH complain peevishly.

That is why I qualified it by saying "a grumble/rumble".