engine whine

[DailyDriveCamry]

I just got this 94 Camry i4 about a month ago. When I first got it there was a slight whine, most noticeable idling in park. Now it has gotten a lot louder, still most noticeable idling in park. It's not a squeal like a bad belt, and the belts look good. It's more of a whine almost like a whistle. A guy I worked with thought it might be the harmonic balancer (crank pulley?). Once the car has been driven a bit it doesn't whine nearly so loud, but when idle vibrates kinda hard.

Any ideas? Or things I could check?

[2wickedtoyz]

is the a/c on when it whines? try listening to the compressor it sounds like that would be it

[amerikim]

not to crash, but I had a whine that was pissing m eoff, I thought belt or water pump.

Took care of tran and the sound went away.

[DailyDriveCamry]

The AC compressor is not on, it does it with it both on and off and is worst when the car first starts. Good thought though.

The car had an engine swap (dead 5sfe for a used 5fse) right before I got it. No idea where the swapped engine came from. Knowing the mechanic I got it from, probably a salvage or junkyard engine.

When you say you took care of the transmission, what did you do? Also, you said at first you thought yours might be the water pump, is that something else that commonly causes a whine?

[amerikim]

I had a water pump start to whine as its bearing began to give out. The whine changed to a rattle and then it seized.
I had a whine start up a few months ago when the engine was first started. I was thinking it was either a belt alignment or water pump again. After 10-15 minutes of use it would fade away. I was going to address it but when I had my tran swapped, the noise never came back. My mechanic inspected my belts/water pump and said everything was okay so no need to do anything.

[es250nut]

Could be the power steering pump. Mine whines when the car is cold.