It may be the Idler pulley. I used to have a 96 Breeze with a 2.0L 4cyl that made a whining noise. I thought something might be seriously wrong, but then i discovered it was just the Idler pulley making noise. I changed it-- no more noise.
The driver, once he gets the bill from a professional to diagnose it properly for him. Wa Wa Wa :(
You might need to flush your power steering fluid system. What causes this whining or sizzling noise is the hydraulic bar getting stuck which a driver doesn't feels in its rack. or if your car recently visited a ditch or hot a side walk really hard, these factors can effect your steering rack and steering Coulomb.
It could be a bearing in your alternator that has gone out. Start your car and do whatever it takes to reproduce the sound. When the vehicle is making the sound, put a screw driver against your alternator and put your ear against the other side of the screw driver. If you hear the whining noice clearly through the screw driver, it's probly the alternator. Move the screw driver around the area and see if the noise that is passed through the screw driver is louder anywhere else, besides the alternator. If not, it's coming from your alternator. You can use a long screw driver or any solid piece of material, but the handle of a screw driver is a little more comfortable against your ear than other options.
1996 Stratus will interchange, plus others.
check your power steering fluid
Under the dash on the driver side.
Under the dash on the far driver side.
in front of the driver side tire
Open the driver's side door, on the left hand side of the dash next to the steering wheel, pull the panel off to display the interior fuse panel.
Front seating area, driver side, under dash, mounted driver side of steering column.Front seating area, driver side, under dash, mounted driver side of steering column.
The transmission control module on a 2003 Dodge Stratus is located on the power distribution box. It is on the driver's side of the box.
Inside the fender in front of the driver side front tire.