Sounds like a sqeak which repeats every 2 seconds or so when the engines cold, coming from the alternator area on my KH.

Tho original alternator was replaced over 120,000 k's ago and i remember it failed without warning at the time. Battery went flat. The belts were replaced with the last timing belt change, so they should be fine.

Is there any trick i can use to identify the guilty component? Goes away after the cars had a run.

Idler pulley on front belt gets noisy when you have high Km on the car. Pull belt off, turn pulley by hand - if rough or has play, replace.

Idler pulley on front belt gets noisy when you have high Km on the car. Pull belt off, turn pulley by hand - if rough or has play, replace.
Cool, thanks Max! And congrats on 6000 posts!

Cool, thanks Max! And congrats on 6000 posts!

What?? Didn't even notice! lol I wonder what % are actually useful and accurate though? lol

By the way, the REAR idler can be dismantled and the bearing replaced by buying one from a bearing shop, they would also be able to get a new front one in, no replaceable bearing in one of those unfortunately - I tried to pull one apart without success.

Spray a little bit of WD40 on the inside of the belt and see if the noise goes, if it does, just change the belt, but usually when you're under there is best to check the idlers as MadMax said. Pretty expensive to buy new the idlers/tensioners, but if you can change the bearing alone that would save a lot I'd say. Theres also the cheapest way of finding a decent tensioner at the wreckers :P if you're lucky you might find a newly replaced one or low mileage. Good luck anyways