Engine tapping sound??

[Sambanks]

About to become a proud owner of a Freelander 2 HSE in the morning

I do have a concern though, this is the FL2 I am buying in the am but a little concerned about the tapping noise coming from the engine.
See this video (about half way through)

 

[Nodge68]

Nice colour. I'd have preferred Tonga Green instead of my Rimini Red FL2.

There's a couple of things I've seen.
The rear wheel arches need some rust treatment soon, don't wait too long as they'll be in holes in no time.

The tapping could be several things, especially with 216k miles on it. At this sort of miles, the engine is into its late middle age, (they can last up to around 300k), so just like us, some age related wear is to be expected.

Rockers are know to wear, allowing them to "float" on the retaining clips.
Valve stem tops are also a wear point. Mine were very worn at ½ this ones mileage.
The damper pulley can de-laminate.
The alternator overrun bearing can seize, causing excessive drive belt vibration.
The drive belt tensioner or idler bearing can fail.
The timing belt can be fraying, especially is its well overdue, which it shouldn't be yet. Hopefully it's been changed at 150k?
The timing belt tensioner can make noise, if its not been installed correctly.
The belt idler can also give trouble, especially if it wasn't replaced with the belt.
The throttle body gears can strip, making noises.
I think that's about it.
At that miles, I suspect it's the valves being worn, but the top of the head needs to come off to look.


Oh and when starting a FL2, it's a good idea to let the system check complete, before allowing the engine to crank over, as lots of errors occur on the data stream due to low voltage, if cranking as allowed while the system check is in progress.

One more thing, it's obviously had a flat battery, so the clock, and all the windows/sunroof will need calibration.

 

[Sambanks]

Nice colour. I'd have preferred Tonga Green instead of my Rimini Red FL2.

There's a couple of things I've seen.
The rear wheel arches need some rust treatment soon, don't wait too long as they'll be in holes in no time.

The tapping could be several things, especially with 216k miles on it. At this sort of miles, the engine is into its late middle age, (they can last up to around 300k), so just like us, some age related wear is to be expected.

Rockers are know to wear, allowing them to "float" on the retaining clips.
Valve stem tops are also a wear point. Mine were very worn at ½ this ones mileage.
The damper pulley can de-laminate.
The alternator overrun bearing can seize, causing excessive drive belt vibration.
The drive belt tensioner or idler bearing can fail.
The timing belt can be fraying, especially is its well overdue, which it shouldn't be yet. Hopefully it's been changed at 150k?
The timing belt tensioner can make noise, if its not been installed correctly.
The belt idler can also give trouble, especially if it wasn't replaced with the belt.
The throttle body gears can strip, making noises.
I think that's about it.
At that miles, I suspect it's the valves being worn, but the top of the head needs to come off to look.


Oh and when starting a FL2, it's a good idea to let the system check complete, before allowing the engine to crank over, as lots of errors occur on the data stream due to low voltage, if cranking as allowed while the system check is in progress.

One more thing, it's obviously had a flat battery, so the clock, and all the windows/sunroof will need calibration.

thank you so much for this amazing response, there is a lot to consider here. I am paying almost 3.5k

I should have mentioned that although the clock reads 216k the engine was replaced with a 67k one less than 1k ago.

 

[Nodge68]

Seems a little expensive to me, at least for the mileage, but HSE models do seem to get silly money, which is why I looked for an SE instead.

I paid £2000 for my SE, which had 119k on it at the time. However I did buy mine with issues, which required me to replace a piston, cylinder head, and the rear diff. I also replaced all the brakes too, as I like to start a fresh with beakes.
Mine has cost me £3200 all in, is now running great, has new brakes, rear diff, low mileage tyres, low mileage cylinder head, and obviously everything else on the vehicle has only done moderate mileage.

There's clearly an issue with something on the engine, so I hope it's a good one.