Hello everyone, lets see if you can help me find out what is causing this strange noise.
I have an old 1998 Subaru Impreza that runs well but has this mystery squeaking noise coming from the area near the front left of the car. It seems to happen most on cold, dry days, and I can hear it when the car shakes, but only when it is driving, never at rest. I can usually make the noise if I let up on the gas while still in gear, and it happens sometimes while going over bumps, but typically only if the bump only affects one side of the car. If I am accelerating quickly or braking, the noise usually doesn’t happen. It also usually only happens when I am in gear and have the gas pedal pressed, but it can still happens on bumps even if the car is in neutral, the noise is usually much quieter if the car isn’t in gear. I can’t tell if the noise is coming from inside or outside of the car, but it seems to be louder inside and I can’t hear anything from outside when driving through a parking garage with my windows down.
Now this noise first appeared a few days after I got my clutch plate, fly wheel and axles replaced several months ago but I haven’t been able to find anything on my own and the shop said they didn’t see anything that could be causing it.
I have included a recording I took while driving, if you listen its the high pitched squeaking. So far the only thing I have done is checked the sway bar and bushings and those are all in good condition and covered in lube.
If anyone has any ideas about what might be causing this, please let me know, I have checked multiple websites and I haven’t been able to find a solution and the noise is driving me crazy.
It sounds vibrational to me. Something is jiggling against something else. It could be as simple as dried out hood bumpers or something like that. It’s probably hard to reproduce by hand, but I’d try shaking the car around to see if you can get something out of it to pinpoint the location.
It’s a rotational noise, in my opinion
That would rule out the sway bar bushings and control arm bushings
I thought about rotational. My immediate impression was actually belt/pulley. But then as I listened more I realized it sounds exactly like the hood of my lawnmower - with it’s somewhat dried out little rubber insulating bumpers. The mower vibrates, the hood jiggles - and it sounds pretty much like that. Maybe we’ll find out at some point…
I would say get the front end of the car up and inspect all of the rubber bushings and mount points. You can also try lubing any bushings you suspect with silicone spray or transmission fluid and see if it makes the noise stop, then when you locate the problem, replace them properly.
Tom & Ray recommended Wurth HHS-2000 / HHS-K Penetrating High Temperature Lubricant for lubing chassis bushings. I found it on Amazon.