It's unusually cold here now. Each morning my 88 wagon squeals for about 3 or 4 miles or about 5 minutes. It is not responsive to rpms so I think that rules out belts, water pump, alternator, etc.

It slowly goes down in volume and pitch as I come to a stop. When it stops it stops abruptly.

Any ideas or experience appreciated.

Thanks,
Hawk

Mine was doing that, turned out to be the inner front wheel bearing was spinning on the stub axle. The difference is that mine did it after running down the road for about 5 minutes.

I'll try the water on the belts in the morning, it's 15 deg. at 10:20 pm. I am leaning towards the carrier bearing. When I shift into neutral and rev the engine, the high pitched whine stays steady.

I do think the black and white check valve to the heater controls is bad. When I shut it off I get a whoosh sounds when the vacuum in the system dissipates.

Will report back.

Hawk

In case you still might think it is up front in the engine compartment, this is what we have to do often in this unusually cold January:

Me: "What's that noise? Do you hear that noise?"
She: "Of course, are you deaf? I hear it all the time!"
Me: (turns down the heater blower) "Oh yeah. Embarrassing. The belts."
(turns off the lights, revs the motor in neutral, the noise abates, turns the lights back on) "Just have to let the alternator catch up to the belt. Unlike some other things, rubber expands when it gets cold... With all this slippage it should be getting warm by now."
She: "Why don't you tighten the belt?"
Me: "It is too cold outside. Maybe I'll find some better fitting belts this Spring."

This alternator belt pair, when it stops gripping the tiny alternator pulley, varying the rpm doesn't change the sound much, but stopping the forward motion of the car should not affect the noise. But if reducing the load (turning off electrical equipment, giving the battery a chance to recover what it lost cranking) stops it, you've isolated the problem to either the belts or in some cases the two-piece crank pulley. Not quite as easy as identifying a power steering belt squeal.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

Vacuum leak?

I've got a sound in this cold weather (< 10 F), too -- it sounds like a slight howl (like a ghost haunting the car), rather than a high pitched squeal. I suspect it's my center (of the driveshaft) coupling. Like yours, it's speed related, and stops when the car is stopped -- whereas a belt squeal would more likely keep it up as long as the engine was going.

To be sure about the noise, belt vs driveshaft, put a load on the belts:
first, turn your high-beam headlights on, which puts more load on the alternator belts;
second, turn the steering wheel, to put a load on the A/C and P/S belts;
if either of these tests changes the sound, then it's the belt(s) for that accessory drive. If the sound doesn't change, it's the driveshaft.

Sounds like a center drive shaft bearing. Not too critical; probably be OK once it warms
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89 240 wagon, 94 940, 200K, 94 940, 135K

Sure sounds like belts. Spray bottle of water on the belts individually, you can narrow down which one.
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