Driving yesterday I realized I had a new noise. I was going through a drive through so I could hear it bounce off the building's walls really well when the windows were down. Here is what I've found so far:

1998 Toyota 4runner, 4WD, 5VZFE V6, 118K miles.

1. The squeak sounds like a bushing rubbing against something, it's not a metallic sound like the brake pad indicators, just a sound like rubber or urethane rubbing against something else.
2. The squeak is only heard at low miles per hour, like 0-5 or at most 10 miles per hour.
3. The squeak pulsates according to the speed I am going until I hit 5-10MPH. Starts off slow and then gets faster until it's almost one constant noise until I reach 5-10MPH and it goes away. I'm not sure if it's really going away or whatever is rubbing is doing so fast enough that it doesn't make any noise until I slow down to stop again.
4. I've noticed that the noise only happens when I'm in DRIVE, does not occur when in reverse, and if I'm driving and I hear it and slip into neutral it will stop the squeaking. If I am driving slowly and it's squeaking a little and I tap the accelerator the squeak will get slightly louder and faster sounding.
5. Not having anyone to help me diagnose where the noise comes from, my only method is to drive at slow speed and hang my head out the window and listen. To me, it sounds like it's coming more from the middle of the vehicle and not from either set of tires, but that's just what I hear from the driver's window.

So, I don't think it's belts or anything specific to the engine, I've looked underneath and I don't see anything rubbing around the wheels, and I know it's not a brake wear indicator. With these symptoms and what I think I've ruled out, can anyone tell me where I might look or a possible cause for this low MPH squeaking only in DRIVE?

Thanks for your help.

 

transmission mount?

 

Thanks Rob, I'll check that out. What bothers me is that it's only happening when it's in DRIVE, nothing else. The first think I thought of was something with the tran$mi$$ion and I started praying that it was something else!

 

Hey new to the forum. But I was wondering if you ever figured out what this was? My 4runner just started doing it also.

 

U-joints.