AC related engine noise on 2.7

Hello,
Trying my best to figure out a problem with my Dads 98 4x4 Tacoma.
Weird noise when the AC isn't engaged. Still there when AC is ON but not as loud. Here is what we've done so far.
New belts
New AC idler pulley
New AC clutch bearing

Any ideas? I have done all I can think to do. It almost sounds now like its coming from the crank area. Could it be a bad water pump? It runs and drives fine but its so loud that it almost sounds like diesel. Does it at idle and all RPMs but is much less when AC is ON. When the AC belt is removed it is also gone. So maybe its the AC compressor? But why would it do it more when off? This is why i changed the AC clutch bearing. Please help.

 

if the water pump is bad it will move back and forth and be sloppy. does the sound quiet down when the defroster is on? because the defroster also uses the AC

 

Yes it also goes away when the defrost turns on the AC compressor. I am going home soon and take the belts off to see if the water pump feels sloppy. That was to be my next step anyway. Its the only thing left!

 

dont have to take the belts off to feel the slop.

 

Well the noise seems to be coming from the power steering pump. Took that belt off and the noise goes away. Still gone with the AC belt back on and took the new pulley off the AC tensioner and used it for the power steering tensioner. Noise still there with power steering belt on. So i will be looking around for a new or used power steering pump.

 

Well good news. This problem is now fixed. BUT it wasnt the power steering pump. I wasnt willing to buy one for $120+ dollars until I knew this was causing the problem. Took another look at the whole thing and checked around with a stethescope. The pump wasn't the source of the noise. Finally saw it. The crank pulleys were supposed to have 4 bolts securing the outer pulleys. There were only 2 there and one of those was LOOSE. So I tightened it. Problem solved! 2 of the 4 bolts were missing. Went and bought 2 more bolts, installed them and the noise is now gone. I've spent about $100 bucks and a bunch of time to fix 2 missing bolts that when not installed were making ALOT of noise. O well there you have it. The bolts on the crank pulley were missing and causing the truck to be so loud it sounded diesel.

 

nice glad you fixed it

 

what kind of noise was it making?

 

The noise was loud almost as if it needed a severe valve adjustment. Would change with load differences on the accessories. It was hard to tell where the source of the noise. Finally put a wrench on the crank pulley bolts and they were loose.

 

Now i have a 3.4L. It has the one main center bolt, des yours have more than one?

 

Yes the one center bolt is there also, but it has 4 smaller ones holding the two pulleys stacked together. I only had 1 out of 4 tight and 2 missing.

 

Did that pulley appear to wobble or anything?

 

I don't recall seeing it wobble. If it did it wasn't enough to tell.