For about a year now, my trusty Sienna has been making this intermittent little squeak. It’s not loud (it’s not the belt!). It seems to be coming from the passenger side, toward the rear. It only happens when I am moving. It seems to happen when I am running the AC. It is a soft little chirpy-ish squeak, about 2 seconds in duration. It sounds for all the world like a vent opening up with a squeak.
Driveability is in no way compromised.
Am I nuts? Any ideas what this might be, other than the Ghost of Siennas Past?
When I have a weird noise problem like that coming from the rear of the car, the first thing I try is to temporily remove all the accumulated stuff in the back seat and trunk, even the spare tire and jack, and see if that makes the noise go away.
Yeah, I was convinced it was the tire jack…I did try that back when it first started, but it didn’t happen. It’s so intermittent that I couldn’t decide if it just didn’t happen or if I’d ruled it out. It’s driving me crazy.
Your undercarriage has numerous bushings that can sqeak intermittantly, on the sway bar tie rod ends, holding the sway bar to the frame portion of the body, and many other places. I’ve found that because the sway bar twists within the hole as the car moves, the bushings that hold the sway bar to the body often tend to wear and squeak. Often the source of the sqeak can be verified by squirting silicone lube on the bushings and see if the squeak disappears.
The key to all this is to get under the vehicle. The safest and best way is a lift, however ramps or GOOD jackstands PROPERLY USED are a great way to get under there too. A piece of corrogated cardbiard makes sliding under far easier and more comfortable.
Being a confirmed nut myself, I decline to comment on your last sentence…
I keep my bicycle tire pump in the car’s trunk, for when I put the bike on the bike rack and drive to the start of the bike ride. I was hearing this noise coming from the rear of the car, unrelated to whether the bike & bike rack was on the car or not, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what it was. Kind of a clicking/clincking noise. Esp noticeable when going around corners on a bumpy road. This went on for like 6 months, I was thinking it was a rear wheel bearing, until finally one day I took the bike pump out and forgot to put it back in. Voila, noise gone.
