Reading
SDBsxtr's post on the 'faint knocking sound' prompted me to post this. Mine's a little different, but since he's already got people trying to diagnose strange sounds, it seemed like a good time to post this question.
Like
SDBsxtr, I have an '01 (it's the 3.2).
The noise I'm trying to track down sounds a little like a few dice being gently rattled in a Yahtzee cup. Unlike his, I only notice it when starting to accelerate in 1st, then again accelerating in 2nd. It’s not there at idle, nor if the engine is revved but not under load. It’s subtle, but can be heard clearly when the engine access panel is removed. I removed the belt and the noise disappeared, even when accelerating in 1st and 2nd.
I suppose it may be power steering or A/C related? I replaced the water pump a couple months ago (OEM, from Sunset)---hopefully I didn't get a bad one. I know that putting a new belt on (which I did, with the WP) can sometime cause other things (pulleys, etc) to fail, but I would have expected more of a squealing kind of noise. That's not what I have.
Any ideas?
