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Dear Matt,
Good p.m. and may this find you well. Check the harmonic balancer aka the crank pulley. It sounds as if the pulley is about to come apart. The pulley consists of a steel core, a rubber insert, and a steel outer section. Over time, the rubber deteriorates, allowing the outer section to spin around the steel core.
All of the accessories (power steering, alternator, and air conditioning compressor) are driven by the crank pulley, via the drive belts.
To check the condition of the crank pulley use "white out". When the engine is off, use the "white out" to draw a line from the interior of the crank pulley to the outer face. Take the car on the short drive. If, when you return, the original straight line is now two segments (e.g. one at the 2 o'clock position and the other at, say, the 9 o'clock position) the pulley has failed.
Replacing this pulley is not hugely hard. A replacement pully is about $60 from www.fcpgroton.com.
Other possibilities: the timing belt tensioner is about to fail. To get at this part, you will need to remove the crank pulley and then the front of the timing belt case. See the FAQs (under FEATURES above) for the procedure.
Hope this helps. Post back on your findings, if you can spare a minute.
Yours faithfully,
spook
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