Okay, well, I thought I'd identified the source of the sound at the front of my engine as the fan clutch. And I was wrong. I replaced it today and it still makes that noise, so I'm guessing it's the pulley that the fan attaches to...or what else could it be? It's definitely coming from that area...my mechanic said it was the fan bracket, but he's foreign and I can't find what that part would be other than the pulleys...

In this video, you can really hear the sound at around 12 seconds. The best way I know to describe it is to say that it sounds like the windup noise you get from a manual car going in reverse. Obviously, the intensity increases with engine speed.

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a47...=Video0005.flv

Please help me so that I don't have to claw my eyes out.

 

I had a similar problem and after some searching I found out it was the alternator. Take off the serp belt and run the engine to isolate the noise. Then try spinning each pulley/bearing by hand while listening with a mechanic stethescope.

All mechanics should have one of these

 

sounds a lil like a supercharger!

sorry that I can't be of any help[&o]

 

What's on the other side of that pulley? Is that the alternator? It seems like I would have other issues if there were a problem with the alternator. I was hoping I wouldn't have to take off that belt...mostly because I don't know how to do it .

 

The alt is at the lower left (facing the engine bay). In my case the alt was working fine, it just had a noisy bearing. Which signaled it was on its way out. To remove the serp belt just use a breaker bar and I believe a 3/4 socket. To make things easier I took off the bumper and pulled the front end out a little. It can be done without pulling the front end though. Like I said before use a scope or a long screwdriver (without a rubber handle) to listen for where the sound is coming from.

 

Well, that's what my mechanic did...he touched the end of his makeshift stethoscope to the pulley and said that's where it was coming from...I don't know why I had to go an get clever and think I knew better than him...I wish he'd just said that it was the pulleys. Searching was mostly fruitless except for a few threads that all indicated that the problem was the fan clutch. I'm guessing I won't be able to replace them without pulling off the bumper :\.