Last December, I bought a brand new 2009 AWD Ford Escape. Not too long after I bought the car, I noticed that the car makes a squeaking kind of noise when I accelerated from a stopped position (like from a stop sign or a stop light). The noise only occurs in the situation I’ve described. It lasts for a second or so, and then goes away, only to occur again the next time I have to accelerate from a completely stopped position (and only going forward, not backward).
I took the car back to the dealer to have it checked out, but the truth is that they have no idea what the source of the noise is. They heard the same sound that I do though, and they claimed it’s coming from the back end (I’m not so sure). They checked the brakes and adjusted everything, but that didn’t solve the mystery. Then, they tightened some stuff in the suspension weakly claiming I should have no more issues, but that didn’t do anything either. It was a straight up weak lie.
The bottom line is that they don’t have a clue, and neither do I. What I have noticed in the last couple of days though once I got the car back, is that sometimes the car makes the noise under the conditions I’ve described, then at other times it doesn’t. So maybe the dealer had been on to something. But, it still definitely happens frequently enough to be noticed. Sometimes it’s louder than at other times. Sometimes I can even feel a little vibration in the floor board when it does it.
I need to take the car back to the dealer to have an engine block heater installed, and they’re going to take a look at my problem again. But before I go back, I wanted to know if ANYBODY here might have any idea about what might be going on with my NEW car??? I asked somebody who happens to be a mechanic, and he surmised that it might have something to do with the joints, or maybe even that it’s being caused by a faulty circuit which triggers the AWD. I passed this thought on to the dealer, but it received no comment back from them. Thanks in advance for anything anybody may have to share with me in this forum regarding my conundrum.
Your car is AWD that is engaged all the time? I’ve got 2 guesses.
It may have something to do with traction control. One rear wheel may loose traction, especially if you are turning and traction control may apply the brakes slightly and bring on some noise. When the tire gains traction, no more noise.
2nd guess is AWD system making some noise as transfer case, clutches, whatever determine what power goes to which wheel.
Can’t hear the noise and don’t own a similar car, so just guessing.
Could be a rubber bushing on suspension or body
There are a number of things that could cause this but the following would be my main suspect; and that is a rear brake squeak.
Assuming this vehicle has rear disc brakes it could be that a brake pad is lightly dragging on the rotor. When you stop the pads are applied by force and it’s possible that the squeak could be pad squeaking as it’s released.
Next stop the same verse is repeated.
And a rear brake rotor/pad problem can certainly cause a vibration in the floor of the vehicle.
The park brake cable should also be inspected to make sure that it’s not binding and that it releases all of the way.
That is definitely what I would look closely at anyway. With the vehicle on a rack and the wheels off of the shop floor the brakes could be applied and the rear wheels rotated by hand. If this is the problem is should be very apparent to the tech.
Hope that helps.