Q: Car is making metal on metal sound under hood towards passenger side

asked by on October 29, 2016

Going up a hill my car kind of jerked then a few minutes later started to make this metal on metal sound. Facing the hood it's on the upper left side. The sound comes one when it is on and when driven. When I turned on the ac it didn't do anything. My fluids are all good. What should I do?

My car has 153000 miles.

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Hello. This noise can be coming from a few different places. If it occurs as soon as the vehicle is started then you may have a bad accessory pulley. It could be the AC compressor pulley or the alternator. It may even be the water pump. I usually start by removing the engine drive belt and starting the vehicle to see if it goes away. If it does then I spin each pulley to locate the noise. If the noise is still present then the timing belt system will need to be inspected. It may also be coming from the inside of the engine so I would need to listen closely as to the approximate area that the noise is coming from. If you need assistance, a YourMechanic certified mechanic can come to your home or office to diagnose where the noise is coming from.

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