Honda Car Forum

I drive a '97 Honda Accord wagon, manual, that is reasonably well taken care of. Recently I've noticed a very high pitched squeak that happens intermittently. It's difficult to tell what in my driving causes it to happen, but it will always stop when the breaks are applied even slightly. It seems to be unrelated to RPM or speed. Around the time that this squeak appeared, my check engine light came on which turned out to be the catalytic converter. Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

Check the front brakes, they could be glazed over causing them to squeak until you apply the brakes.

The noise is coming from the wear sensors on your brake pads that indicate that its time to replace the pads. The wear sensor is a metal tang attached to the backing plate for the friction material. When the friction material (lining) wears below the metal tang the metal tang contacts the rotors and makes the noise of fingernails on a chalkboard. You typically will hear the noise at lower speeds or when backing up. Once the vehicle speed increase over 15 mph the road noise usually drowns out the brake sensor noise so you don't hear it any longer.the noise goes away when you step on the brakes because the application of the brakes presses the friction material against the rotor and that dampens the noise of the sensor.Replace your front brake pads and your noise will go away. If you have someone else do it, ask them to show you the sensor on the brake pad so you can see for yourself. the sensor on the honda pads is on the inside brake pad.The check engine light for the catalytic converter is unrelated. That light means that the ability of the converter to process noxious gasses has deminished to below 50% of its original capacity. The converter is still working but the light comes on as the chemical catalyst in the converter is below the threshold for efficient processing of exhaust gas. The car will still drive fine without replacing the catalytic converter and won't leave you stranded but you won't pass a smog test with the check engine light on.hope that helps