My '97 camry rattles inside the timing cover only when the car is cold. Sounds like bearing failure. I replaced the Water pump and both idlers when I did the timing belt even though they all felt fine. The noise went away for about 5K miles and returned. It only happens cold, and only at low idle. Hard to run with covers off, becauseI have to remove motor mounts and belts to get inside cover. Any Ideas??
Len

 

wasyour belt itself was just changed recently as well? sounds like it was.
mine had an awful racket as well in there but it went away after doing the belt (which had more miles on it then the recommended amount)

 

I replaced the belt, and replaced the pulleys and water pump because of the noise (around 125K). The noise went away, but returned gradually over about a year.

 

yeah, mine was done at 129k. (first time - wonder what the record is?)
it had an awful racket before being changed. we'll see if it returns.
it's funny, for such a quiet car on the inside the camry 4 cyl is as noisy as it gets under the hood.
the cabin isolation is phenominal.

 

Well, you ended up having the idea of the day. A poster in another forum assured me I could run with the cover (and motor mount) off. The noise is the slap from theloose belt. You can actually see it chatter in time with the noise. And the noise going away - didn't I hear once that belts shrink as they warm up? Or maybe the pulleys are expanding. Anyway, I'm shocked. I never would have expected it.

 

Rotate by hand motor at the crank to TDC and loosen tensioner and tighten. Should take care of it.
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i love it