Funny Noise From The Transmission

[Guest]

My Yaris T-Sport has been making a slightly odd noise coming from somewhere around the engine bay.

It makes a sort of squeaking noise, which sounds like there is a bit of dirt or something in the drivebelt which makes a squeak as it goes through one of the drive belt wheels. The noise gets faster (ie- frequency increases) if the engine is revved. (I don't think its got anything to do with the drivebelt, but its a good example to explain what the noise sounds like).

Its intermittent, although it seems to be doing it most of the time, regardless of whether the engine is hot or cold.

Its not all that loud - I can only hear it if I open a window. Its more obvious if I'm next to something like a wall for the sound to echo off. I can hear it both while idling, or when driving at low speeds (less so when in motion cos the engine noise tends to drown it out).

Now the odd bit - if i push the clutch down a bit, it disappears. I don't need to push it down much, nowhere near as far as the biting point - just need to push it down very slightly (not much more than resting my foot on it). The noise stays gone if I push the clutch down further too.

My dealer has looked at this before, and tried replacing the drive belts and power steering pump (which they thought was making the noise). I had thought they'd got rid of it after doing the pump, but perhaps not... or maybe this is something new that just sounds similar.

I guess this means another trip to the dealer, which I'm not really looking forward to as they don't seem very good at fixing stuff first time (or second time...) :(

The car's done 40k and is 2 years old (clutch was replaced under warranty at 33k)

If anyone has experienced this problem, or has any idea what the cause might be, I would be very grateful for any info - might be able to point the dealer in the right direction