Weird engine noise

[Alfonso Gomez]

On top of my bad brakes situation, my wife noticed a noise coming out of the engine compartment. I raised the hood and there was this noise similar to a slipping belt or when your power steering pump goes bad.
When the engine cooled, I thought what to do to diagnose this noise. It could be the belt tensioner (which is new), the alternator (about 6 months old), the power steering pump (one year old). So I took off the serpentine belt and started the engine. Same noise coming from the front of the engine. Since the alternator, water pump, AIR pump, AC compressor, and the idler pulley are not working, my question is: what can cause this noise?
The car is an 87 Coupe with auto tranny and close to 130K miles in it.

 

[Ken]

How does the harmonic balancer (torsion damper) look? Sometimes it'll slip back and start rubbing the timing cover.

 

[Alfonso Gomez]

How does the harmonic balancer (torsion damper) look? Sometimes it'll slip back and start rubbing the timing cover.

That was it. A neighbor who happens to be a mechanic detected it and I towed the car to his shop. The balancer cost $180 at a local GM parts distributor plus $65 labor. Now to work on the brakes issue.

 

[Ken]

Very good. I hope the brake problem is as simple. :cool