Hi folks! I'm hoping you guys can help me out, I took a video of it that you can see here:

IMG_0102.MOV - YouTube

I'm hoping you guys will tell me I'm a moron and it's something completely obvious that you can pin point I have a baby on the way in about two weeks and really don't have the money to just take it to the dealer and spend $500 on a service that doesn't even end up fixing it.

Not sure if this is relevant but thought I'd mention it: prior to this noise, I'd been having trouble with the starter (getting a single click, and taking 15-20 attempts to finally start). Now it fires right up (of course) but makes this horrible sound.

The most I've ever done to my car is replace an alternator, I know absolutely nothing about engines but I love DIY tasks, so if it's something fixable I'd love to give it a shot as long as it isn't tearing the whole engine apart.

Any help is much appreciated, thanks everyone.

 

That certainly is an odd one. Its always hard to tell sounds on movies, can you tell a certain area that it is coming from? Do you notice it getting better or worse when you rev it or turn the wheel or something like that.

As for the starter the clicking is usually a good indication that the starter is bad, and usually get progressively worse until the car just won't start.

 

Wow that is bad If you need a starter take old on out and check the gear on end of the starter is it chewed up? also check the theth on the ring gear by looking in the hole that the starter came out of if thay are bad you need a trq. converter if thay are ok try a starter

 

Thanks for the help guys, took it to a shop and they diagnosed it for free, told me the starter was staying engaged. They wanted over $200 to do it, I bought the part for $80 from Autozone and replaced myself. It wasn't too bad at all, and now the thing fires right up with no noise. Hope this thread can help someone in the future.