I've had the car up in the air twice now, trying to figure this one out. Problem is, it only lasts for a few minutes and then goes away. It makes it when I'm letting my foot off the clutch in gear, but mostly when decelerating while in gear. It sounds like it is eminating from under the center of the car. At first it sounded like it was coming from the exhaust (dumps under center of the car), so I thought the turbo was causing the noise. Changed the CHRA, and that was a waste... has anybody heard a noise like this before? Maybe u joints? Clutch related? Trans related?

 

Inspect drive shaft for rubbing, u-joints for wear, CV axles for rubbing (possibly against exhaust), e-brakes dragging slightly, warped rear rotors causing ungreased caliper pins to squeak as the calipers move across them, rotors or wheels rubbing brake splash shield, wheel bearing allowing excess movement causing one of the above, bent or loose wheel causing rubbing against something, or something else. It is obviously road-speed related so it will be a road speed related component.

 

cant hear over your lack of a muffler.

 

it sounds like warning for worn out brake pads

 

I had a similar noise to this when i first lowered my car, it was the axles rubbing on the collars of the coilovers. Maybe not your issue if your not on coilovers but worth a check

 

When did the noise start?

 

When I was under the car, I was at my shop, my guy was in it going thru the gears to make the noise occur. I ruled out wheel bearings (no play), brakes (a few thousand miles on them and I greased the pins), ebrake (still does it with it when engaged during testing), and axles are clear from rubbing.


The noise started a few weeks ago, nothing was changed before it started. Literally heard it one morning on my way to work and has been the same since.

It clearly is under the center of the car when I'm standing underneath it. I've found a few threads from a while back about u joint noises but all the links for the videos are dead... was hoping someone would be like "hey I had that same noise and it was xxxx!"

I think my next step is to pull the driveshaft and feel the u joints.

If the u joint is the cause, I'm likely going to replace the driveshaft. Any reason to go for a serviceable $300 949 or FM one over a used one for $140?

 

Well, the serviceable one is serviceable.

 

Are those joints any stronger than OE? I'm at 259 whp now, and will go for 300 when I get my other, built motor in.

 

Finally figured it out! It was the front u-joint. I picked up a used shaft from TCM and swapped it in today. This is what the original one sounds like when applying some twist to it and working it back n forth. Funny thing is, is it has no play and I can't make it squeak by hand when it was in the car. Only made the noise when accelerating in reverse, and decelerating in gear. Went away in a few minutes.

 

Nice. To me that is a totally atypical drive shaft failure. I have never seen one squeak like that. I have had the needle bearings fail which causes a knocking sound, but never a squeak.