Its a very old car and the V6 will be very expensive to sort. Run it until it dies and scrap it, not worth the hassle. The previous owner sold it for a reason, you have now discovered that reason.

Hi there,

thank you both for your speedy replies. It's certainly audible when you are stationery it''s not overly loud but I can tell something is not right. I have had the car for about three months, it has only done 70,000(genuine as car is in mint condition inside and out and have all the service history etc) and has been mostly kept in a garage for the best part of a decade. However the noise wasn't there when I bought it and the car has just been fully serviced and MOT'd. this has only just started a week or so ago....I guess further analysis will tell eventually. I agree with what you are saying about running it til it dies, but like I said its only done 70'000 and I love the little b*****!! lol

Thanks again nick

Guys..thanks so much for all your help.

Pages like these are invaluable. Timing belt and tappets are two things that have been mentioned by a few people who have looked at it...The Tappets were my first guess when I first heard it to be honest but like you said none of these to be ruled out until checked properly. Also thanks for the link to the website I will certainly head over there. I just hope it is something minor and not the beginning of the end of a nice example of a V6 323....Thanks again folks.

Nick