SQUEALING NOISE BY DISTRIBUTOR

Every so often in the a.m. after my 99 XJ sits all night i get a noise in the engine compartment. I thought it was the serpintine belt.iT GOES AWAY AFTER A FEW MINS. OF DRIVING. it sounds like a rusty clothsline. This morn i opened the hood to investigate and found it is actually coming from the distributor/ oil filter area. ANY IDEAS?

I had a bad distributor (I think it was the metal bushing) that made a squealing sound. Check your distributor for any play in it. I had some side to side also in and out play. I went ahead and replaced the entire thing as they aren't that expensive and the sound went away.

It's probably still the belt. Noises in the engine bay tend to bounce around. I thought for sure my most recent noise was coming from back by the firewall and low. Turned out it was the harmonic balancer (very front and low). I guess I would check your belt's tension and condition. If it looks funny at all, get a gatorback (only a few extra bucks) and keep the old one as a spare. Good luck..

Oh yeah, I would also guess that just about all noises in the engine bay must be caused by moving parts. Your case could be something internal maybe, but I'd start easy and hope that solves it.

ETA: Yeah, try that too^^^

Get a short length of heater hose(I always seem to have some around) and use that as a stethoscope to track the sound down.

I will try the distributor. Im certain the squealing noise is in that area only.THANKS.