What is this whining or whaling sound coming from the engine bay? It sometimes happens at idle and sometimes at around 2500 to 3000 RPM. At idle, it lasts about 1 second every 2 to 3 seconds. It stops after a minute or two once it starts. I recently washed my engine bay using a degreaser. No other relevant work has been done on it recently (new master and slave clutch cylinders, new throw out bearings, new spark plugs). I haven't tried anything other than spraying some lubricant onto the pulleys to see if that would fix it (it didn't, but it might have helped a little. not sure).

I'll try to upload a sound clip when I figure out how to convert the mp4 to mp3.

 

Sound clip of the engine noise. I have the blinkers on for reference. The engine is at idle.

 

Spray a bit of water on the drive belt, sounds like a squeaky belt. It will quiet down for a few seconds then make the noise. Solution is to replace the belt.

 

I'll give it a try. Thanks!

 

It's the idler pulley starting to go bad. Yesterday, I think it started to freeze up and started stripping the belt. I smelled burnt rubber and saw rubber bits all over the engine bay. The belt itself was in bad shape. I'll be replacing both. Thanks!