Insight on a worn bearing sound?
 

Hey guys,
So I've been searching for a few days and haven't found anything relevant.
Last weekend I began noticing that my car was louder than normal while idling. It sounded like a bearing that was wearing out or 'grinding' against something. As the week progressed the noise got louder and louder. I took the car to a Classic Mazda in Denton and had Ramsay listen to it and give me his opinion. He said throwout bearing, and I agreed for the most part. However, I noticed that the sound is coming more from the front of the engine bay so I started thinking alternator, water pump...something that is attached to the belts. The sound is present and noticeable while cold/warm under load/idle, with and without clutch depressed.

I recorded a sound clip with my phone (long extension touching specific part and the other side on my phone) and I'd like to get y'alls opinions. My car is out of warranty so I'm trying to pinpoint it before I have to pay $100 for an inspection.
This file I'm linking to is .m4r (recorded on iphone) It will play in itunes and maybe quicktime
[sorry about yelling into the mic ^_^. Also you can hear the bearing noise through out the video. Sounds kind of like something rolling on a piece of wood....or a worn bearing]

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0a...M2JiYmJi&hl=en

Service history:
80,300 mi.
Flooded once (to my knowledge)
New coils (3k ago)
Newish plugs (10k ago)
new air filter (3 k ago)
Belts changed at 42k (still look and feel good)
oil changes ever 3000-4500 miles 10-30 in the summer, 5w-30 in the winter (I live in TX)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

anybody?

Try Rotary Performance in Garland talk to Ari.

If I can't get it figured out today, I'll give them a call.

First reaction anybody normally has to a MT Mazda with gear rollover type noise is the throwout bearing. You'll find a multitude of posts on this site about it. The thing that you state above that might be your differentiator is that the noise remains unchanged with the clutch pedal depressed or released in neutral.

Do you hear the same noise at the same volume level with the clutch engaged and the car moving (slowly rolling forward - might need someone else to help you determine this if you can't hear well from the driver's seat)?

I listened to your audio. Couldn't hear anything really different when your phone was near the alternator or the water pump. I didn't hear you try the phone near the AC compressor?

OK, so I just took off the alternator belt and spun the alternator and the water pump pulleys... and judging by the monster grease explosion on the water pump pulley I'm going to def. say it was that! Also it is pretty loud just spinning it by hand. I'll go try to find a new water pump today and see if that fixes it. Thanks for your input so far. I'll update with pics when I do the swap later.

Water pump replaced/ coolant flushed. And all is well again with my world :)