My 2002 has almost 180,000 miles. Given its age and mileage, I do expect things to periodically pop up even though it has been well taken care of.

My latest mystery. At stop signs, when I start to accelerate, I can hear a faint squeaky noise almost like a small bird making a chirping noise. This only happens at very slow speeds (~5 miles). When I go faster, the noise disappears. It is very faint, so faint that I can only hear it if my windows are down.

So far, I have ruled out brake pads. They are still new. I am thinking perhaps wheel bearings? They are the originals.

This has been happening for a long time may be a year or the last 10000 miles. The noise has not gotten louder or worse.

Any thoughts on what this mystery noise might be?

 

Check to be sure the brake pad hardware is not running against any part of the rotor. Check to make sure the backing plates are not touching the inside of the rotor also..

What else comes to Mind is the axle Boot.. as they age the dry out, and can squeak also..

 

Have you checked around to see if anyone has lost a canary?

 

Not completely sure about the sound you’re hearing but perhaps have a look at your exhaust system, especially the heat shields.

 

I often wonder if it is a real bird noise. But it has been a couple of years since I started to hear this sound. So any live canary would be dead by now.