Grinding/Squealing Noise in 95

So I was driving home today and all of a sudden I hear a really bad grinding/squealing noise under the hood. I popped the hood and it sounded like it was coming from the drive belt, or something in that area. Any Idea's what is wrong and/or what I could do about it. It's a 95 gase if that matters much, lemme know. Don't want to be stranded on the highway.

It could be the water pump, sometimes when they're on their way out they will begin to make noise. When mine went it sounded like someone put steel marbles in the engine and they were just rattling around in there. It could also be some other pulley like the tensioner pulley. They will also make noise before they go as well.

Hope this helps to point you in the right direction. Others on the forum may have additional ideas.

Yeah, my thought is an accessory pulley bearing starting to fry. Warm the engine and listen very closely to pinpoint the noise [where the noise is emanating from]. Concentrate on all the pulleys that are belt-driven. It could be any one of them, so do a detailed listen.

Oops, I meant to say, pop the hood, start the engine, and then listen closely, and continue to listen while the engine gets warm. Which brings up the ?, does the noise start up at engine start or does it show after the engine is running?

it's definately after its running, and i listened to it a little and its definately where the drive belt is. I couldn't get a better listen cuz i didn't wanna get my ear ripped off. I'll have my friend look at it sometime when i have some cash. Thanks for the input, gives me something to tell him.

could be the a/c clutch. If it is warm enough (above freezing) turn defrost or a/c on, if the noise stops you've found your problem. If the clutch engages and the noise remains strike the a/c clutch off your suspect list.

One thing to try, carefully is with engine off, get a prybar or long screwdriver.

With engine OFF, lol, try to see if any of the pulleys are loose or wobbly. Don't reef on any pulley, just try to see if it jiggles under mild prying.

That presumes it not the A/C like NiteOwl suggests, which is good way to eliminate A/C from the list.