Godawful squeaking from trunk area

[funcrew]

My 1988 sedan has developed an amazing chattering squeak from the trunk area. I though the sound might be related to my removal and re-installation of the interior, so I removed the rear speaker shelf and all the carpet panels from the trunk, where the sound appeared to be coming from. Now it's much louder without that insulation in the way. Also removed the rear seat, which made no difference. I'm not sure there's any more interior pieces that might be to blame.

Imagine a bunch of angry squirrels chasing each other around a pile of a dozen styrofoam coolers, making the coolers rub against each other. Yep, that's the sound. The squeaking starts at very slow speed, <5mph rolling over any pavement with driveways, bumps, irregularities, potholes, gravel, etc. and continues near-constantly at all speeds. Squeaking only absent on glassy-smooth new asphalt. Turning the engine completely off has no effect. I have removed everything from the trunk that's not bolted down. Shoving down on the back of the car [EDIT: DOES] make the squeak.

Any ideas? I'd post a video w/sound but my trusty old digicam finally puked after many previous attempts to kill it.

Any other information I need to provide?

[dashboardmonkey]

mine has the same exact sound, shocks

[evilnickwong]

Meaning the rear shocks are worn out? Any reason it wouldn't make a noise when pushing the car up and down on it's own then?

[Stevie30]

Sounds like rear upper shock mounts to me.

[funcrew]

My shocks and mounts are original 1988 units, so that would make sense. I had been hoping not to go through the suspension, since I'm planning to sell this car in favor of a gray market 323i or slicktop 318i. Maybe I can try just the mounts for cheap, and see if that does it.

[StereoInstaller1]

Dump the hookers

Noise gone

[funcrew]

Dump the hookers

Noise gone

Finally a proper R3V response. BTW Upon further investigation, bouncing the back end by hand does make the squeak happen.

[Eric Happy Meal]

mine has the same sound, but the shocks are new (didnt replace the shock mounts as they looked to be in good shape) but i have some spare ones from my e36, so ill put them in and report.

[funcrew]

mine has the same sound, but the shocks are new (didnt replace the shock mounts as they looked to be in good shape) but i have some spare ones from my e36, so ill put them in and report.

Thanks - If it's the mounts, that's good, because I can afford mounts a lot better than shocks.

[reelop19]

On a side note there is a metal shield above my muffler and that thing is rattling or the exhaust hangar is rattling on it. I'm not sure yet until I take the muffler off but its something to look into.

[funcrew]

I just installed KYB gas-a-just shocks and the "heavy duty" $10 shock mounts from fap99.com. Fixed the squeaking completely, and now the car drives better since the OEM shocks were completely blown - compressible with one finger and no rebound. I had shock mount reinforcement plates on hand, but left them off since the KYB's are probably not stiff enough to damage the sheetmetal.

Thanks to all for your tips.