Rover 75 Diesel (BMW engine, TD4) knocking. Cured!

A couple of weeks after buying this little-used car, it developed a loud knocking, like an amplified typical diesel engine rattle. We first thought it was the idler pulley, but it turned out to be the crank pulley, also known as a harmonic resonance balancer or some gibberish.
It took a hefty mate with a 5-foot breaker bar to undo the main bolt. We used a proper locking tool to aid the process. Specialist crank pulley sockets for impact wrenches can also be bought. These are very thick and the extra inertia generated can soon remove the bolt.
Pulley here: ebay.us/kcuMch
Locking tool here:ebay.us/rNFMV6
Channel Support: / shoestringshed
Merch, inc Land Rover and ZX mugs, etc:
teespring.com/...
www.redbubble....
All support greatly appreciated!

[@johnbroadmeadow5433]

My crank pully failed around 3 years back. As you say I noticed it was making a right old noise. If you pour some water over it whilst the engine is running it will quite it down momentary helping you diagnose the problem.. The tensioner was a real pain to change just like yours 👍👍

[@iamthefatstig]

Great advice there John. I noticed mine would get quieter when the AC was engaged, which is why we misdiagnosed it as a tensioner at first.

[@daveslife9486]

Good to know many thanks 😉

[@edwardgriffin8092]

I watched this before, and thought "That's a good bit of advice, I will have to remember that".
And guess what!... I completely forgot all about it :-)