My car is making a very wierd noise, it sounds like I am dragging something or maybe a bearing going in one of the pulleys. it makes the noise sitting still at an idle. it is a rattle rattle like a spinning noise. I cant pinpoint it so i thought id ask for help with who i trust most, fellow bonneville owners.any info would help thanks

It could be a number of things. Is it under the hood, or under the car? Under the car, my first suspect would be the catalytic converter. Under the hood, I'd wonder about the harmonic balancer. That'* were I'd start. Then check your pulleys to see if any are binding, or wobbling. Could also be the water pump. Do you have a short piece of hose or stethescope you can use to narrow down the options?

You might want to try idling with no belts on the car for a minute or two to narrow things down. Start with a cold car, and don't do it for more than 2 minutes at most. You'll have no water pump. But this step can go a long way towards troubleshooting.

Look VERY carefully at the face of the harmonic balancer. Is the rubber face starting to seperate from the outer ring where the belts ride? If you tug on a belt, does the HB move? Does the sound go away as you rev the engine speed up?

It would be helpful to pinpoint if the noise is from the accessory belt area or not then follow what Wilren suggests if so.
Sometimes before running it without a belt you could spin the idler pulley, check for play in the water pump, then spin the AC compressor pulley and check for noise.

i tried listening for it yesterday afernnon and couldnt reach where it sounded like it was coming from..It definetly sounds like a pulley. And sounds as if its right in the middle of the engine. It goes away if i rev up the engine, its only at idle. Im going to look closer today but i need to know what it is and how much it might cost because this car is my Daily driver. How much is a harmonic balancer?

Is it more of a clatter at idle?

Look at the HB for cracking and do the belt pull test and other steps detailed here. HB'* cost about 150 or so, and can be difficult to change.

Definitely do the tests as described before you buy anything, and post back here. Mine sounded similar to what yours is described as last year, and it turned out to be the idler pulley. That'* Only $35 for a good steel dealer replacement, but you want to take care of anything soon, especially if it'* your DD.

Bottom Line: Test and report, lol.

"HB'*" and "DD'*" :?:

C'mon, speak English.

haha.. HB is harmonic balancer.

"DD" is Daily Driver, lol. In both cases, the items were mentioned above in full, so we just shortened them to their obvious initials. Try to keep up, Bob... J/K