Thoughts on what this noise might be

[Doug_B_928]

My wife's 08S has made this intermittent squeaking noise for some time. The car runs great and there are no fault codes. The car has an aftermarket warranty so I took it to the dealer for their opinion. The tech removed the drive belt and didn't find any issues, but the noise is intermittent. What I noticed on one occasion (I don't drive the car very often so I haven't been able to fiddle with it as much as I'd like) is that, when it was making the noise, if I took it out of park the noise stopped. When I put it back in park the noise started again. On that occasion I was parked on the gentle incline of a driveway (engine on the high side), if that makes any difference. So, putting a load on the driveline appeared to stop the noise. But, the noise sounds like it's coming from the front of the engine. Here is a link to a video of the noise (sorry for the poor quality; you have to listen carefully):

Any thoughts on what this might be are appreciated.

[skala57]

Sounds like a pulley to me. Can't really tell but doesn't sound like an issue at all. Hope this helps. Good Luck

[Doug_B_928]

I hope you're right that it's nothing serious. If it was just a pulley one would think that the noise would be replicable when spinning them with the belt off. But the tech said that he didn't notice anything with this test.

[bigbuzuki]

If it was just a pulley one would think that the noise would be replicable when spinning them with the belt off. But the tech said that he didn't notice anything with this test.

Not necessarily.

The pulley may be silent with the belt off, but will squeal when it is loaded with the belt on.

[Doug_B_928]

If it was just a pulley one would think that the noise would be replicable when spinning them with the belt off. But the tech said that he didn't notice anything with this test.

Not necessarily.

The pulley may be silent with the belt off, but will squeal when it is loaded with the belt on.

Hmmm.....interesting. Do these things sometimes happen intermittently (i.e., when loaded with belt on it still is audible only sometimes)? I guess the pulley on the front of the engine still doesn't explain why the noise would stop when I moved the gear selector from P to R or P to D, or does it?