I have an 01 AE and a friend just purchased an 00 SE. Both are auto. I noticed his does something mine doesn't.

Pressing the throttle in park (not sure if it happens in gear), results in a strange mechanical sound. Sounds like its comming from the engine bay. It's high pitched, like a servo opening/closing. It happens for a second as you press the gas, rpms go up (it stops) then the noise comes back when the idle returns to normal for another second and stops?

The car also had a rough idle on cold start but once warm its fine. Ideas?

motor mounts?

search electric motor mounts and you will find some treads on them

Thats my guess though without a video or a sound clip

The rough idle on startup is most likely intake manifold gasket. There were 2 threads on that last week both titles were something like "car studders when cold"

Most of my searches turned up MAF issues but that seemed odd being a low mileage 00 with paper air filter. The noise is hard to describe, I'll do some searching and if that doesn't help I'll post a clip.

i have the same issues but i have only noticed poor mpg in the cold and only 22 when its warmer, but when i run seafoam through it i get some smoke coming out close the firewall have you tried this?

I have not tried the seafoam. After much reading I'm going to start by troubleshooting the motor mounts (unplugging them). I doubt that will fix the idle but it may save the ecu. When should these motor mounts be unplugged (off, running at idle, while revved, etc?) I couldn't find that info, many suggested unplugging them while the car was being revved to keep the mounts in 'hard' mode? And unplugging them at idle would make the ecu keep them in 'soft' mode. This is very interesting and also a PITA lol.

The intake leak sounds responsible for the stumbling idle. Somebody suggested holding a lit cigarette around the intake to check for leaks? Is this safe?

Do SEAFOAM really work, I seen a couple of you tube article of this stuff, I was wondering if I should try it in my 2000 Max 176,000 miles

it wont hurt the engine as far as smoke getting sucked in its not like itll be taking up the habit

yes it works,just put 1/3 of a can threw booster hose very slowly and rest in gas tank with atleast A half A tank of gas......I used A spray bottle for booster hose leading to intake manifold and kept spraying every 10 seconds.....get ready for alot of white smoke after you start driving,and don't gun it....drive slow around the block till smoking stops.....your neighbors will love you too when they see the smoke

I noticed the motor mount noise (robot/servo/whirring) only happens when the rpms are at 900 on the way up then again as the tach needle passes 900 on the way down. The videos I listened to had a similar sound but it was happening at different times ie: turning the car on/off. I still need to unplug, I'll update this weekend.

Sure the whining is not coming from the belt?

It's not a belt issue. I'm still waiting for this rain to subside so I can troubleshoot further.

I believe Feldman was correct on both issues. I unplugged the front motor mount and the noise is gone. I was unable to find the leak in the manifold but it makes sense. Now that the weather is in the 60's the stutter is gone.

The car still has a 30 day warranty. Wish me luck with the dealer.

I had same noise in my 2000 SE and it was the weird electric motor mounts I had them replaced and its gone now

An update for anybody searching. THe idle problem went away after replacing an 02 sensor. The 'noise' was in fact the motor mount.