[quote=”musiccity365″ post=204403]Yes go ahead and do that. I’ve also seen alternators do that at times when the bearings wear out. It could very well be that your alternator bearing is worn out and in that case you would just get a new alternator. The way you would check that is remove the serpentine belt and then spin the bearing on the alternator. It shouldn’t make any noise at all, if you hear noise then it’s toast.[/quote]
While I can’t logically explain why this sound would change (see my quoted response above), several people have suggested the alternator .. and so I suppose that where I’m leaning at the moment. I just can’t get my head wrapped around why the sound “shifts” gears, while the RPM steadily increases. IE. the mystery sound cycles through 2 maybe three “gear shifts” while the RPM is a steady slow increase from idle to 2,000 RPM.
Nonetheless .. since this is my only real lead at the moment, I’ll eliminate it as a possibility and see what happens.