LOUD whining 1998 SC2

I have a 1998 SC2. 117500 miles. There is an extremely loud whining noise under the hood on the left side that seems to be coming from somewhere around the timing belt. The pitch changes when shifting and is loudest/highest at higher RPM's. Has anyone else experienced this? Has anyone figured out what it was and had it fixed? Is it expensive or hard to fix? Any help would be appreciated. I have no problems with the car. It runs fine, I just have this noise and it is very, very annoying. It definitely turns heads when I drive by...

I have a 1998 SC2. 117500 miles. There is an extremely loud whining noise under the hood on the left side that seems to be coming from somewhere around the timing belt. The pitch changes when shifting and is loudest/highest at higher RPM's. Has anyone else experienced this? Has anyone figured out what it was and had it fixed? Is it expensive or hard to fix? Any help would be appreciated. I have no problems with the car. It runs fine, I just have this noise and it is very, very annoying. It definitely turns heads when I drive by...

Passenger side or drivers side? Did you mean the serpentine belt on the passenger side? Saturns have a timing chain on the passenger side of the engine.
Sounds like a bad bearing on one of the accessories, belt tensioner, or idler pulley. Should not be too difficult or to fix. I would remove the belt and spin everything by hand untill you find the culprit. As far as expense goes it depends on the culprit. The alternater, air conditioning compressor, power steering pump would be the most expensive. The serpentine belt tensioner or idler pulley the least.

Welcomre to the forum. Let us know how you make out. :smile:

I have a 1998 SC2. 117500 miles. There is an extremely loud whining noise under the hood on the left side that seems to be coming from somewhere around the timing belt. The pitch changes when shifting and is loudest/highest at higher RPM's. Has anyone else experienced this? Has anyone figured out what it was and had it fixed? Is it expensive or hard to fix? Any help would be appreciated. I have no problems with the car. It runs fine, I just have this noise and it is very, very annoying. It definitely turns heads when I drive by...


My 97 SL2 had the same problem when I first bought it. It turned out to be the serpentine belt ildler. I think I paid about $22 at Autozone for a new one. Pretty simple to replace. The only issue was the tight squeeze. I had my little brother get the bolt started for me and I finished it off with a wrench. Hope this helps.

it can be any belt driven accessary. most importent IMHO is the water pump, chenk your coolant level

I have a 200 SL1, 99500 miles. I have a slight whine/noise like that as well. Sounds like the tensioner pulley. Your issue is probably similar. I'm more concerned about my 4000, yes 4000 rpm idle right now.

Thanks for all of the input. I took it up to the local shop today to talk to a guy we know about it. He took a look and a listen and the concensus seems to be that it's the idler/tensioner pulley. So, I've got one in my possession. Hopefully this takes care of it.

Well, that was definitely it. We replaced the idler pulley and it's running nearly silent now. Thanks for the replies.