Hi all and sorry for the long explanation, just hoping to provide as much info as possible
​​​A few weeks ago my 2015 with 235000 kms started making a slight squeal from the passenger side of the engine while I was driving. After it started getting worse I decided to take a closer look, but I was only able to replicate this squeal while driving. Idling would not replicate the sound. A cursory inspection showed a quite cracked and worn serpentine belt.
I changed the belt a couple days ago, but the squeal did not go away. Rather, a sound very similar to the VTC actuator startup issue began as well. However, unlike all of the posts I have read about the VTC actuator grinding issue, the noise does not go away after start up. Rather, it seems to come and go regardless of how I drive or engine temperature, and exclusively at low RPMs.
The sound could be best described as a diesel engine. However, when I accelerate the noise goes away.
My thought is that the two sounds are unrelated and just coincidental, and I am hoping the squeal might just be a tension pulley issue, which I intend to verify this weekend.
But the grinding noise has me concerned. There are some excellent YouTube walkthroughs on changing out the VTC actuator, and I would prefer to do this myself. However, my question is, is it possible that this is in fact the issue given that the noise persists after warm up?