Scraping sound, in the motor area?

[EliSprague]

Lately my car has been making this scraping sound, at first I thought it was the serpentine belt rubbing against something, but I looked harder into it and it's coming from the engine, the noise seems to come and go, sometimes it's loud, it's generally quiet, and sometimes you can't hear it at all. Anyone have an idea?

[petrified.rabbit]

could be a lot of things: tensioner, belt, clutch, cams, bearings, etc...

when exactly does it happen?

[EliSprague]

As I said, it comes and goes:/

[redrob]

Check all your fluids and see if any are low including your powersteering fluid. Like stated above it could be a number of things wrong but maybe you can eliminate some things and narrow it down. Does it do it more frequently during "X" conditions or right after you "X" with certain things. What I mean is after you first start the car, after you accelerate, while braking hard, sitting in traffic, pull a drag run or something you can think of that it happens more "commonly" after you do.