I've had the familiar starter noise (brief grinding) after start up in cold temps for a couple of years. Recently it has become a loud squealing, screeching for a few seconds. Once the car has been driven a while, it doesn't squeal again when I re-start it.

Just put in a reman starter and I still have the squeal 3 days later. I have not been able to have someone else start the car while I listen inside the engine bay, so I guess I'm not really sure where the noise is coming from.

Here's my question: I first noticed the squealing after I had a shop put in a new waterpump. I noticed today that they had incorrectly installed the idler pulley on the A/C-alt belt. They had tightened it ONLY with the lock nut on the idler wheel itself, NOT the upper adjustment bolt. Also, my idler pulley makes a slight clatter when the engine is running. Could it be the idler pulley that is causing the squeal on start up?

 

I took care of that on my car by pulling the starter out and regreasing it...no need to look for a reman one. About your other 2 pharagraph... i dunno

 

Tighten the belt's! I had the same problem......simple fix

 

Could be belts.