I have a 2001 Volvo S60 with just shy of 180K miles on it. I got the car used in back in 2008 and it had about 140K miles. Absolutely love the car, but almost a year ago I took a job that requires me to commute about 65 miles per day in traffic.

The past few weeks I've been noticing an odd squealing or whistling noise and I don't know what is the cause of it. I'm the only one who drives the car and the noise only happens when I'm commuting, predominately when I'm in traffic and I'm doing a lot of hitting the gas and break or stop and go driving. The noise however will go away once I get to a speed of 45+ (and stay at that constant speed for a few miles), but once I hit traffic again or a lot of stop and go action it will come back. At times while the noise is happening I can see the RPMs drop and the car has a difficulty idling and almost feels as if it's about to stall out.

I've taken the car to be looked at by a local repair shop and they said it wasn't the timing belt (I've never replaced it but I am unaware if it has been replaced). It's definitely a belt or pulley but not sure which one, and I'm not terribly good with cars so I wouldn't know the difference between any of the belts or pulleys! To me it's just odd that it ONLY happens while I'm driving in traffic.

Any advice would greatly be appreciated as I have no clue what to do and would rather not have to waste money replacing things that may not have to be replaced. PLEASE!!! Thanks

 

Have you checked for exhaust or vacuum leaks?

 

i have had this issue and i found that mine was the fan for the ECU and when i traffic i get a tea kettle whistle No air moving and when at speed Air moving it goes away. Does this sound like the same sound. If yes look at the bottom of the ECU box there is an Air flow pipe that comes from the bottom passenger side wheel-well give it a little shake. Mine was a small gap the the connection ..