Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum. My name is Jackson and a proud Montero sport owner. But I've been having a lot of trouble with mine lately. I'm actually very confused about it at the moment. I have a very very loud ticking noise coming from what seems to be the top end passengers side towards the front of the engine. Almost sounds like the fan is hitting something ( definitely not what's happening). My first guess is that it was a bad pulley or something. I don't really know how to pin point the exact one though. Also thought maybe a spun bearing in thecrankshaft? OK so here's where it gets confusing. The vin number has the letter H as the 8th number. Meaning ita the 3.0 right? Bit the way the belts and pulleys are set up looks like the 3.5. So idont know what to make of itI've seen a lot of videos of people playing around the with the tensioner on their belt pulleys. But on mine it doesn't really have the same sort of tensioner. I honestly have no to dea what to do anymore. Can someone please help me out?

 

Can you post a picture of your tensioner/belt setup. Also, if you are able, shoot a short video of the noise you think the belt is making and link up to it here.

 

OK so the first diagram is the belt setup that I have. The second is the one stating that's for the 3.0. And then video of the sound. It's louder when its warmer.

OK so couldn't get the video to upload. So here's the link to the soundon YouTube.

 

Wow, those setups are not even close to each other.
What works in your favor, is that you have separate belts for different components (unlike the serpentine belts). In this situation it is easier to isolate which pulley/component causes the noise you describe. To do this, take off ONE belt at a time and run the engine to check for presence of the noise you describe. Once you notice that the noise is not there, you've isolated the subsystem. At this point start checking the idler pulley and the component that is driven by the belt you just removed for any unusual noise or wear. Turn the pulley by hand and note if it has any unusual resistance, noise or lateral movement. This will take some time, but start with the first belt, check for noise, if present, take next belt off, etc. You can run the engine with all the belts removed, so don't worry about it. As long as you don't start the engine 100 times without alternator belt (no battery charging), you will be OK.

If you run into the situation, where all belts are removed but the noise is still present, then it is an issue internal to the engine. It can be a timing belt, a water pump, or some other issue, but don't jump to conclusions or start pulling out hair until you complete this diagnostic.
BTW, the video did not re-direct properly.