2006 Impala 3.6 - terrible noise

DD#2 just texted me this. Drove to work with no apparent issue, parked. Went to lunch and made this noise on startup.

Bah, can't figure out how to get the video from the message to here.  It's a warbling kind of shriek. I only have about 5 seconds of video to go on, but if I can figure out how to get it uploaded, I will.

[edit] Thanks to John's suggestion I got the video hosted below.

She says it sounds a bit like an espresso machine steaming.

Not showing battery or oil pressure lights. It did jut put an oil change reminder up, so I told her to check the level, but I don't think it's related.

My guess is alternator or AC compressor, but really don't know. Any thoughts?  Thanks.

Send the video to YouTube and then post the YouTube link here to the board.  

Steam? 

Coolant?

In reply to John Welsh :

I'll try that, thanks.

The video sent didn't show steam, and she didn't mention it, so I'm assuming that overheating wasn't it.

Idler pulley? 

TRoglodyte said:

Idler pulley? 

Could be?  I just uploaded the video to the first post.

Thanks!

Shutoff all hvac systems and see what that does.

If it doesn't go away, remove the belt and start it for a minute.  If it doesn't go away....  no idea.  It's gotta be one of those or something so far out of left field that I can't diagnose it remotely.

Couldn't watch the video.

Some cars of this era have an electric secondary air pump that can fail and be noisy at a cold start. Just unplug it. (may cause a check engine light).

She lost power steering on the way home from work, so it's most likely the pump or the idler. AAA is towing it to the mechanic near her place.

Thanks, all.

I was also thinking idler pulley but the fact that it quickly led to a power steering failure says the PS pump internals lunched themselves. Idler pulley failures usually make a ton of noise for a long time before something goes seriously wrong.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Yeah, this was apparently pretty sudden. It should get looked at today; thanks for everyone's input.

It's good when they leave the nest, but being 2-1/2 hours away means I can't just pop over there to look at it.

That's definitely a ps pump. Most likely one of the hoses has failed and all the fluid got pumped out. It's a rather E36 M3ty placement of the pump, reservoir, and lines. Thanks GM.

An old trick is to get a rubber hose and hold one end to your ear when car is running then hold the other end near the components- p steering pump, idler, alternator, water pump.....just be careful!!! 

Sometime it becomes obvious where the noise is coming from. 

Ranger50 said:

That's definitely a ps pump. Most likely one of the hoses has failed and all the fluid got pumped out. It's a rather E36 M3ty placement of the pump, reservoir, and lines. Thanks GM.

We had the steering rack replaced about 3 months ago.  Hopefully those folks didn't berk something up.

Apparently the water pump seized / threw a bearing / voted itself off the island.

Getting fixed today, $800 cash.  Could be worse but she can't afford any down time on the car.

Thanks for everyone's input.

glad it was an easy diagnosis