superloaf

So my 951 started making squealing noises about a week ago, it started out sounding like the belt slipping where it would go away once I revved the engine a bit but yesterday it wouldn't go away and it continues today. The sound can be heard at idle but then once revved it grows much louder where it becomes annoyingly loud. And the strange part is that the pitch does NOT change with rpm; it only grows louder. So it can't be belt slippage. Is this a bearing gone bad? I suspect alternator bearing or maybe water pump.

Any insight to this would be appreciated as I'm scheduled to drive cross country in a couple weeks.

Thank you very much in advance.

V2Rocket

perhaps one of the belt rollers...
try removing the PS belt and see if the noise persists. then remove the AC/alternator belt, see if it persists.

this at least will narrow down if its an accessory or an engine part..

superloaf

Power steering deleted so not that.

But is a whining noise that doesn;t change pitch indicative of a bad bearing? Or is it something else? I find it strange that the pitch doesn't change and I've never experienced a noise like this before except maybe a wheel bearing but even that changes pitch on weight transfer of the car on the bad bearing so not even that is the same.

Bought a stethoscope but while I was in buying it, the noise went away....Yup, that's the kind of car weekend I'm having, don't ask about my scirocco which won't start.....

superloaf

Yeah, stethoscope is pretty useless; sounds the same no matter where you put it.

Got under there and the AC/Alt belt was really loose so I tightened it up but the bearing noise persists. I actually had two different noises but now the belt slippage is gone and now it's basically a space ship noise that comes on about 2000-3000rpm and is fairly loud.

I actually tightened the belt a few months ago so I'm surprised it's that loose. Do the alternator bearings add slack to the belt when they fail and get loose? How do I make sure it's the alternator?

V2Rocket

take the ac belt off completely...if noise goes away you could find a shorter belt to run the alt by itself to test