Well, it'* not the cooling fans.

I'm thinking it is either the air condition compressor or the starter and I'm leaning more towards the starter. It sounds like the starter is going bad when I start the car. And it is acting like there is either something caught in the starter housing and making this noise or maybe that the part of the starter that pops out and hooks up with the flywheel isn't coming back in all the way and is rubbing the flywheel. I just have a feeling this is a starter problem at this point.

I just got laid off and can't afford a new starter right now so I'm not sure what to do.

I may be over-simplifying, but the starter ought to be easy to pull out and see (he said as it is 67 degrees outside). Back in the previous century a guy could buy just the solenoid assembly (that thows the gear out there and switches power to the starter motor). Don't overlook a starter from a salvage yard. Even cheaper at these "You pull it" places. They all guarantee them to work, etc. ... I mean if your starter completely dies. Better than walking.

I'll check around at some of the salvage yards and see what i can find. It is pretty common so should be easy to find for a good price. Then i could just buy a new solenoid on and go from there.

I'll say what the starter is doing. You know when the car is already running and you have a brain fart and go to start it? It makes that shanking sound. Sometimes my starter does that but it isn't because the engine is running. It just does that from time to time. And it sounds pretty loud when starting the car and seems to make a shrieking sound just as the car starts. Almost as if it were shimmed to far away from the flywheel or something So, I assume the starter is going out, or there may be something inside the starter housing stoping the starter from contacting the flywheel correctly or making the shaft not go back into the starter or possibly even getting into the flywheel and causing the noise that my car is making. So maybe it is just a starter problem.

Hello all , Im having the same problem here . I recently replaced the water pump because of the squeal and found that was not it. so I removed the belt and started it the squeal was still there, the symptoms are the same meaning it doesnt do it all the time. I can start it no squeal warm it up drive around it starts doesnt matter moving or not or which gear im in its there sounding like water pump bearing,then shut it off restart no squeal . however sometimes it still there when it is restarted . Im wondering if it could be a bearing on the torque converter or a lifter/roller any ideas would be great thanx all.

After having exhausting myself of all possibilities I could think of, taking off the serpentine belt and driving it to see if the squealing stopped and it didn't and checking the cooling fans and it still didn't stop I was really about to give up. I had suspected it may have something to do with the starter so I finally jumped underneath and sure enough the starter was the problem. Like I posted before it seemed to happen because of momentum forcing something into something else that was turning. Anyway, I looked at the starter and the front starter bolt was gone! I used one finger and wiggled the whole starter around. The front bolt had worked it'* way lose and fell out and the back bolt was lose as well. That explains also why the starter was making the funny noises that it was making. Well, now new starter bolt in the front and tightened the rear bolt and it'* as good as new. The only thing that bothered me was the bolt set that I got from the auto part store (it was the proper part number by the way) that front bolt is the short one and it seemed to turn in kind of hard all the way. It didn't feel cross threaded or anything but it did tun hard. I just hope that I didn't just stick a metric bolt in a standard thread or vise versa. When I felt it getting tight I didn't tighten it too much just in case. But for now all is well. Let'* hope that bolt is the correct one.

Okay, I have a chirping noise on my 2001 3800 Series II. It does go away when I remove the oil cap, then resumes when I replace it. Can you help me?