Faint Chirping

[HowAboutThis]

I noticed this last summer. When driving with the passenger side window down I can hear a faint "chirp chirp chirp chirp". If another car is near I can't hear it. If my radio is on, even at low volume, I can't hear it. Seems to not be brake related, as it continues with brakes applied. It stops when I'm stopped. Starts at about 10mph (that's when I hear it). I just heard it again today as it was nice enough to roll my windows down and I thought "oh, forgot about that noise." Because with the windows up, or over about 35mph, you can't hear it. I've had a bad bearing in a different vehicle years ago, and bad cv joints in other cars, but that was always a lower hum or growling noise. Do bearings make super subtle, faint chirps? Or is it probably just something stupid rubbing on something? Ideas appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: it's a 17 Corolla with about 88k on it.

 

[Warstud]

Sounds like a belt . Pop the hood and spray some water on the suspected belt to see if the chirp goes away

 

[HowAboutThis]

Sounds like a belt . Pop the hood and spray some water on the suspected belt to see if the chirp goes away

Doesn't do it at idle. Only when moving above about 10mph. I'm fairly confident it's a wheel area thing.

 

[HowAboutThis]

Sounds like a belt . Pop the hood and spray some water on the suspected belt to see if the chirp goes away

But it sounds almost exactly like a chirping, rhythmic drive belt squeak we've all heard before. Only it seems to be wheel related. I don't think it's gotten any worse, or louder or changed much at all since last summer when I first noticed it. Just don't want my tire to fall off...lol

 

[Lubener]

But it sounds almost exactly like a chirping, rhythmic drive belt squeak we've all heard before. Only it seems to be wheel related. I don't think it's gotten any worse, or louder or changed much at all since last summer when I first noticed it. Just don't want my tire to fall off...lol

If the noise is only present when the vehicle is in motion, yes it would be wheel, brake or drive train related.

 

[Dave9]

Does it change with vehicle speed? Is it regularly repetitive or irregular interval? Maybe record it and post a link?

Check *everything* Here is a starter list, focusing on front right wheel area first since you mentioned right window:

Raise right front off the ground, wiggle wheel with hands at 3 and 9 o'clock checking for bearing wear.

Take wheel off, inspect area including lug nut tightness and loose lug studs, smoothness of wheel bearing rotation.

Check for brake wear indicator rubbing against rotor, or deformed splash shield rubbing. You could even be the rare case where someone genuinely has a real, warped rotor and dried out calper pins or slider rails resisting pad movement, though as you mentioned still happening (exactly same?) with brakes applied, and not feeling pulsing in the brakes, probably not warpage.

Check for CV axle boot tears that let the grease out.

Check for strut tower mount, spring seat and suspension bushing play. Have you done any mods that included polyurethane bushings? If so they might need greased, or you could soap water spray the rubbers and drive while wet to see if it goes away.

Plan B: If there doesn't seem to be any bearing or other excessive wear, wait till it gets worse.

Plan C: Take it to a shop

 

[TCL]

Does it have hubcaps? If so, remove and see if it continues. Sometimes the flex of the hubcap can make these noises.

 

[HowAboutThis]

Does it have hubcaps? If so, remove and see if it continues. Sometimes the flex of the hubcap can make these noises.

When I remove those stupid cheap hubcaps they make a "screech" of plastic on metal. It's that same tone. Interesting, never thought they might be the culprit while driving. I'll tank it off today and see.

 

[HowAboutThis]

Does it have hubcaps? If so, remove and see if it continues. Sometimes the flex of the hubcap can make these nois

Does it change with vehicle speed? Is it regularly repetitive or irregular interval? Maybe record it and post a link?

Check *everything* Here is a starter list, focusing on front right wheel area first since you mentioned right window:

Raise right front off the ground, wiggle wheel with hands at 3 and 9 o'clock checking for bearing wear.

Take wheel off, inspect area including lug nut tightness and loose lug studs, smoothness of wheel bearing rotation.

Check for brake wear indicator rubbing against rotor, or deformed splash shield rubbing. You could even be the rare case where someone genuinely has a real, warped rotor and dried out calper pins or slider rails resisting pad movement, though as you mentioned still happening (exactly same?) with brakes applied, and not feeling pulsing in the brakes, probably not warpage.

Check for CV axle boot tears that let the grease out.

Check for strut tower mount, spring seat and suspension bushing play. Have you done any mods that included polyurethane bushings? If so they might need greased, or you could soap water spray the rubbers and drive while wet to see if it goes away.

Plan B: If there doesn't seem to be any bearing or other excessive wear, wait till it gets worse.

Plan C: Take it to a shop

I did the 12&6 and 9&3 last night. No wiggle that I could tell. I had it in park so couldn't spin the wheel and realized it was getting dark so didn't check for grinding noise. Rumor is you put your hand on the strut to feel for things and if it's a bearing it'll vibrate in your hand? Does that sound like an accurate test? The brake clip holder things had a tiny bit of play and made a similar pitch when I checked last night. But applying the brakes doesn't seem to make any difference to any part of the noise.

Just say "chirp chirp chirp" in the highest pitch voice you're able (or able to imagine) as fast as you're able. That's the noise. No weirdness in brake pedal. Brakes have 85k on them but are basically full (lots of highway miles and I coast to red lights and such). No CV boot issues I could see.

After forgetting about it since last summer (almost always have windows up and you can't hear it) I've put about 8k miles on. Don't think it's gotten and worse. Would a bearing get bad fast?

 

[zzyzzx]

Ignore it until it get bad enough to find?

 

[dkryan]

Kindly open the hood, reach down below the air cleaner housing and free the robin that somehow managed to get in there.

Close the hood and enjoy chirp-free driving!

 

[Dave9]

I did the 12&6 and 9&3 last night. No wiggle that I could tell. I had it in park so couldn't spin the wheel and realized it was getting dark so didn't check for grinding noise. Rumor is you put your hand on the strut to feel for things and if it's a bearing it'll vibrate in your hand? Does that sound like an accurate test? The brake clip holder things had a tiny bit of play and made a similar pitch when I checked last night. But applying the brakes doesn't seem to make any difference to any part of the noise.

Just say "chirp chirp chirp" in the highest pitch voice you're able (or able to imagine) as fast as you're able. That's the noise. No weirdness in brake pedal. Brakes have 85k on them but are basically full (lots of highway miles and I coast to red lights and such). No CV boot issues I could see.

After forgetting about it since last summer (almost always have windows up and you can't hear it) I've put about 8k miles on. Don't think it's gotten and worse. Would a bearing get bad fast?

I've never heard that putting your hand on the strut could reliably find a bad bearing. If it's not wobbling when you pull on the wheel, I'd just turn it (with wheels removed) by hand and see if it feels smooth. Compare to the other side front wheel bearing if you need to.

If you have so far only checked the right front, now I'd check the right rear, lug nuts and bearing in particular. Does it have steel wheels with hub caps? If so, try driving with them removed. Hubcaps can get squeaky.

Is it possible that you are only hearing it with the right window open, because driving on the right side of roads, means closer things for the sound to bounce off of and come back at you to hear? 10MPH isn't all that fast, can you get someone with a bicycle to ride quietly beside you to tell about where the noise is coming from? And repeat on your left side to try to narrow it down to right side?

A bearing (IF that's the cause...) with so little wear that it's hard to detect, can take a long time to get much worse (thousands of miles in some cases), but the worse it gets, the faster it degrades further. It wouldn't worry me to drive it around normally, but at the same time I wouldn't want to take it on a long distance, say 1000 mi. trip before I found the squeak source to better assess what's going on.

 

[HowAboutThis]

I've never heard that putting your hand on the strut could reliably find a bad bearing. If it's not wobbling when you pull on the wheel, I'd just turn it (with wheels removed) by hand and see if it feels smooth. Compare to the other side front wheel bearing if you need to.

If you have so far only checked the right front, now I'd check the right rear, lug nuts and bearing in particular. Does it have steel wheels with hub caps? If so, try driving with them removed. Hubcaps can get squeaky.

Is it possible that you are only hearing it with the right window open, because driving on the right side of roads, means closer things for the sound to bounce off of and come back at you to hear? 10MPH isn't all that fast, can you get someone with a bicycle to ride quietly beside you to tell about where the noise is coming from? And repeat on your left side to try to narrow it down to right side?

A bearing (IF that's the cause...) with so little wear that it's hard to detect, can take a long time to get much worse (thousands of miles in some cases), but the worse it gets, the faster it degrades further. It wouldn't worry me to drive it around normally, but at the same time I wouldn't want to take it on a long distance, say 1000 mi. trip before I found the squeak source to better assess what's going on.

So, I did a bunch of stuff the last couple nights in terms of wiggling and checking things. I bent the dust shield on rotor back just in case. No noise since doing this. No idea what it is/was. But somehow I made it go away for a couple days. I guess it's fine now LOL Until it comes back...

Thanks for ideas everyone!

 

[dumkid]

i have a belt that only squeals when its cold outside and at certain rpm. the funny thing is this is the rpm that the transmission shifts at when you're just putting around the neighborhood. it also does it in park or neutral at certain revs, and if you spray the belt with water it'll make the same squeal at the same rpm. took me a while to find this noise, but its fairly loud.