Started my disco up this morning to a whining, almost grinding noise coming from the front engine. You can hear it at idle and it speeds up with acceleration. I’ll include a video link below. From what I’ve read it sounds like it could be an idler pulley noise?

here is a link to video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/YMusKV46w5Q?si=l8eaYBzCESgecSg_

 

Maybe its just an artifact of the video but it looks like your fan is wobbling; have you checked the fan clutch and/or water pump?

 

Yes it does look a bit wobbly. How do I check that? Do I need to remove the fan and look for play in the clutch?

 

Truck looks really clean. I would pull the belt off and hand spin each pulley to see if that is the cause. You can repack them with grease if you like, to see if a pulley is the issue. Just remove the pulley, clean it up, pull up the grease seal carefully and load it up with grease. Replacements are not expensive, but at least you would isolate the issue.

It does look like the fan is bouncing around. With the belt off you can get a sense of if it is wearing out. You can just pull it off with a 32mm wrench and see if the noise goes away. Best to loosen it before you pull the belt off.

While you are at it, check the water pump for play, a small amount of play can lead to a bigger problem.

Its not the end of the world to run it for a few seconds with out the belt. If there is not noise then the source is related to a pulley or accessory.

Good luck.