Mate has a 1996 Mondeo with the 1.8 Zetec engine. It makes a loud moaning/howling noise when started from cold. The noise goes away after a couple of minutes as the engine warms up, but can return intermittently when driving. Sounds bearing-ish to me, but I'm no car expert.
It's coming from the side of the engine with the cambelt and fanbelt. It's not fanbelt squeal. Cambelt, tensioners and water pump were replaced "a few thousand miles ago" according to him.
Any ideas? I've suggested he have the cambelt checked out as it could be a tensioner about to let go.