The fan was off to more easily put the shroud back on. A couple starts later a high pitched, short bursted squeal, came from the engine. Popping the hood and listening around, a constant whirring sound from near the upper pulley was constantly heard. Nothing high pitched or extremely troublesome but I'm going to the garage now to see if a water pump bearing has gone (attempt to move the pulley back and forth by hand).
Every start since results in the same symptoms - short squeal then the whirring.
To help secure the pulley from turning while tightening the fan bolts I used one of those wrap around rubber snake clamps(!?), and am now wondering while torquing down if I prematurely wrecked a bearing.
No coolant leaks. The pump is not that old (1 and a half yr's).
Does anyone know if there's something else to check? Could the bolts be too tight? (While bolting the fan I also nudged the fan clutch bolts tighter too)

 

what about your alternator belt? thats normally the cause of squealing

 

mine did the same thing and it was my harmonic balancer. the next day it broke my alternater belt off and ran my battery dead

 

My alternator belt made a noise when I didn't put enough tension on it. After using a crowbar to put tension on the alternator while I tightened the mounting bolts it went away.

Rob

 

My Atlernator bearings do that. Have for 2 years.
It isn't the belt. This is that bad bearing sound.

I know it isn't the fan idler, because I don't have one.

 

Well, there's no excessive play in the pulley, but looking around, while no current coolant droplets from them, the water pump weep holes look like they have been seeping.
Tension seems fine on the belts (no more than 1/2 inch); just replaced distributor and wires and found connection on #1 distributor cap corroded so maybe the whirring from the front was a wonky firing(22re inline four). Couple errands this evening so will check the weep holes in a bit again to see if right after driving I notice any fresh coolant.
Thanks for the replies.
Hasta luega.

 

Replaced the water pump and thermostat.(now I have heat!!...previous issue)
Again belt tensions are fine, but initial start up still produces a loud squeal. I'm curious about this alternator bearing, Leiniesred. Could you elaborate on it - do I need to replace the alternator?
The belts are all in excellent shape.

 

It could be the idler pulley bearing going out.

The best way to find the problematic part is to individually remove each belt and run the engine for the shortest amount of time possible until the noise disappears.

 

Where is the idler pulley bearing? Does the Haynes elaborate on it?(it's in the garage)

 

my alternator belt was loose and it squeeled a little at first. by the time i figured out it was the belt it was deafening.

 

same exact thing wit my '90