Help! Grinding noise from under the hood

Hi, everyone. I have a problem that started occurring a few days ago that I’m having trouble wrapping my head around.

I have a rhythmic grinding noise coming from the engine bay of my 2015 5.7. It’s definitely more prominent on the passenger side. I think the most likely culprits are either the fan clutch or the water pump.

There’s a lot of conflicting information online about what normal operation of the fan clutch is. I’ve read that the fan should spin up to 1 whole revolution when cold, and have much more resistance when warm. My fan only moves about 4-5 inches when cold and is definitely a little more difficult to move when warm. So I thought, aha I found the culprit. However, I compared it to my dads 5.7 tundra and it feels more or less the same when cold. My fuel mileage also seems to have gotten a little worse the past week or so but the weather is also getting colder so I have idled a bit more.

The reasons why I think it could also be the water pump are that it’s located closer to the passenger side of the engine where the noise can be heard easier, and I also watched a video of a bad water pump bearing (not a tundra) and the noise it made was similar to the noise I’m hearing from my truck.

A third, less likely culprit would be the passenger side timing chain tensioner. However, the videos I’ve seen of Tundras with timing chain issues sound more like a rattle or a tick as opposed to a grinding noise.

I don’t have any other symptoms other than the noise and possibly the fuel mileage. My water temp is good and no leaks found. I can’t tell if the grinding increases with engine revs because the typical engine noise drowns out the grinding when I apply the accelerator.

Has anybody else had a similar issue or could somebody offer me some insight as to what direction I should go or how to properly diagnose a fan clutch. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Mine is doing the same thing. I see you never got a reply. Just wondering if you ever got it figured out.

 

Yes, it was my water pump

 

what video were you listening to I have a noise that sounds like ball bearing bouncing around till the truck warms up then it goes away mostly but not completely.