Bearing (belt?) noise + Unstable idle

Hi all.

On Friday just when I was approaching home I noticed idle of the car was unstable. It raised up to 1500 rpm a couple of times and reduced back to normal whilst waiting at the lights. I didn't care much as it only happened twice during a 4 hour hour drive, parked the car in next 5 minutes and forgot about it.

This morning the car started with a whistle noise I'd previously heard with a faulty alternator, in one of my previous cars, never in this car though. I booked the car for a service but earliest they could do was next Monday so carried on driving, as I had to. Later the unstable idle issue reappeared; It'd occasionally raise up to 1500 rpm and go back to normal. The belt noise (I assume) goes silent only while accelerating and is always there with a near steady pitch (pitch does slightly change but not linear to revs).

As I drove 15-20 miles in London, the rpm issue progressively worsened. It began to go up to 2K rpm on it's own and also if you raise it yourself (blip), it wouldn't fall back to normal. Judging by the noise on idle I think there might also be a very, very slight misfire but I'm not exactly sure.

Please see the video here:


- I start the car without the throttle and it revs up to 1.6K rpm.
- Notice the noise coming from the engine (belt?).
- I blip and raise the engine to around 3K rpm and it sits there - my foot isn't on the pedal. Later I reduce it by engaging in gear whilst braking, it doesn't fall on it's own. I blip again, same result, then I stop the engine.

1. Any idea what the issue is?
2. Do you think it's safe to drive 8-10 miles in London for work or should I hire a car?
3. Do you think it is safe to drive to 19 miles the garage on Monday or should I have it towed?

All belts were done couple of months ago whilst fitting an engine at 70K miles. I have to drive at least one day (ideally 2 days) this week for work so need to decide what I'm going to do as soon as possible. Any help appreciated.

Many thanks.
 
Well had a quick look at rental cars and they are much cheaper than summer so I am definitely not driving the car this week. Still unsure if I should drive it to the garage on Monday though...
 
I personally would be reluctant to drive the car with it making that noise and with it behaving the way it is. Do you have breakdown cover? Is it worth calling them out on the pretense you need to use the car and have them take a look over it?? They would be able to hopefully give you a clear answer on whether it would be safe or not to drive to the garage.
 
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