I have been trying to track down an engine whine / howl for for some time now. At first I suspected it to simply be mis-aligned / old belts. While replacing those I noticed the power steering pump growling if only slightly overtightened. Felt it was probably on the way out. Replaced it as well.

Put it all back together, and the same howl is there. It starts after about 15 - 20 seconds after starting the car, and is somewhat intermittent in coming and going (while parked).

Disconnected ALL auxiliary belts and gave it a short try. Whine still there. Got real discouraged, and then searched real hard on this board. Led me to timing belt tensioner. I took off the timing cover, and listened closely. Seemed to be something in there making the whine. I sprayed WD-40 on the tensioner pulley, and it seemed to me that the whine settled down. Then I got excited. What an easy fix!

Put on a new tensioner pulley today, and whine is still there. It comes and goes, but mostly "comes". Fairly high pitched (again, I thought it was belt at first).

What am I looking at? Cam bearings? Crank? Again, it is not external, but is also pretty hard to pinpoint.

I have a spare engine (came with car). Should I swap heads (including cam)? I may be looking for a shop next, but wanted any advice out there first.

Thanks

iveand
1992 245 155K 5 speed.