I started hearing this noise during start-up for the first 5 minutes or so, Then it goes away. The car is parked outside and last two mornings (yesterday & today) when I start the car, I can hear this noise coming from timing belt area. After 5 minutes or so it goes away (before start driving).

As most of US, NJ also experiencing cold front and last two nights temperature dropped below 20F. Is this something to do with temperature?. Pulley or starter?.

2000 ES with 235k miles.

I uploaded the video :

Any help?.

 

Forgot to mention, timing belt was replaced at 180k miles.

 

I'm pretty certain that it's your alternator, but just to be sure, take a long screw driver and put it against the alternator while it's running. Put the other end against your ear and take a listen. If you don't hear anything abnormal, move it around in that area until your find the source.

It seems that alternators seem to fail in the most extreme temperatures, because they have to work harder to recharge a cold battery.

 

I agree, sounds like alternator bearing failing. To test, you can try squirting some lubricant in the center of the pulley shaft when it's not running, let it soak in and work into the bearing assembly (don't let it get on the belt or pulley v area). If it goes away, it's the bearing running rough and dry.

You can rebuild them, have them rebuilt or (much less preferrable) get a rebuilt one from the store. There are a lot of cheaply done, unreliable rebuilt ones these days with inferior or mis-matched parts. Rebuilding it yourself is preferable, or take it to a local auto electric shop if you can live w/o the car a few days.

 

Thanks MrBooby and Oro. I will check the alternator and keep you posted.

Last I changed water pump was at 90k. Does water pump makes such noise?.

 

OK, screw driver test confirms its alternator. How quickly should I replace it?. Any harm in leaving that way - sound goes away after 5 minutes?.

 

That would really depend on the output of your alternator, which requires some testing. If the output is okay and you can live with the sound, then wait till it gets worse. Mine started off like yours and then got louder and louder, at which point it started to bother me so I replaced it. It also caused a bunch of ABS codes to show up, so be on the lookout for random trouble codes.

 

Like he added, it won't disintegrate on the spot. I would plan to change it as soon as convenient, though. You can figure out when to budget the funds and which route to go. If you have a bench, vise, gear puller, you can do it yourself for under $30 in an afternoon.

 

I had the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago.
I bought a re-man alternator straight from the alternator rebuild shop for CAD$140 (USD$120?).
Took me less than an hour to swap.

Remember to disconnect your battery when replacing the alternator. If you short something, it will blow your main / alternator fuse.......which will require you to remove the fuse box......a lot more work.

 

Thanks all for the very informative feedback. I guess I will replace with Denso remanufactured one (by Den so).

 

I'm not sure what shops are in your area, but where I'm from, there are a lot of places that re-build alternators (as well as starters,etc).

If you can do without the car for a couple of days, you can remove it and get it rebuilt. Might be more cost effective.

 

That is extremely rare in my part of NJ. Most shops would rather replace and move on.