malc

I know, I know. Flog me like a Roman! But what had me thrown (and I am no mechanic, but I do have a good working knowledge) was that the noise would ONLY happen when the car was cold and in Reverse, with or without applying the brakes. I just couldn't imagine a noise that was reproducible in such a specific way was the brakes. But lo and behold, it worked. And when you get down to it, that's really all that matters: The noise is no longer there. I take full credit for my masterful diagnosis.

I pulled the front wheels and confirmed my suspicions. Replaced pads and shoes, which were worn down to minimum specs on the dot, and no more squealing type noise. Problem solved for 80 bucks. Thanks for the help all, and hopefully photo2001's problem goes away as well.

It's really dark right now, so I haven't had the daylight to check yet, but does this mean that the belt is in any way failing or starting to show wear/cracking, or could it be due to, for instance, the warm days we've been having with cold nights?

Thanks for the input, Nipper. I'll have to do some trial and error and see if that's the deal. It's strange though in that it doesn't start right away, only when I put it in reverse to get out of the driveway. Testing will commence tomorrow morning. :-\

For what it's worth, my wife's '03 Forester has this very same problem. It only happens when she puts it into reverse after it's been sitting long enough for the engine to get cold. By the time she backs out of the driveway and puts it in drive, it's gone. But it's still a bit jarring. The brakes are 55,000 old and just about ready to be replaced, but the noise happens whether or not the brakes are applied. All the fluids (transmission, power steering) check out fine. Anyone with any insight on this would immediately be annointed as a god/dess. My gut is that it's nothing and probably related to the brake assembly, which will be replaced soon. But in the back of my mind, it nags at me that it's something transmission-related.