Whining in cold/no hot air when stopped

[lkreykes]

My '05 XLT 4.0 has a problem where in cold weather like this morning, the engine whines like a pig and doesn't go away until a few miles down the road. The whine revs/speeds up with the engine so I'm thinking water pump maybe. Also, I get no hot air when the car is stopped. It gets nice and hot going down the road, the temperature gauge is right in the middle where it should be (just recently replaced my thermostat), but as soon as I stop at a light, it blows freezing cold air. And it barely blows air too. Even on the highest setting it isn't putting out much air. Now, it is nearing the end of winter here in northern Michigan but days like today where my message center read -27F, warm air is a must. Has anyone had a similar problem or know what could be wrong? thanks

 

[Duranged84]

Could be bad vacuum line in the dash or maybe on the heater valve on the heater hoses under the hood, lack of flow could be your fresh air door laying over the blower motor.

 

[lkreykes]

I took off the belt and started the truck and it sounded a lot more quiet, leading me to believe that it is a pulley problem. I put the belt back on and watched all of the pulleys for any movement/play, and the water pump pulley wobbles a bit, and the tensioner kicks/bucks a bit. I took off the belt again and spun the tensioner pulley and it has a lot of play, so I will be replacing that bearing. I also checked the harmonic balancer after hearing about how prone they are to failure on the 4 liter engines, and it is solid as a rock and spins great. With the belt on again, and the engine running at operating temperature at idle, I can push a rolled up newspaper into the hub of the radiator fan and it stops with little effort. Could this be related? Thanks