Vibration / Resonance in my Leaf - nobody can find cause

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turbotaguy

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
7
I have a '13 Leaf on a 2 year lease. I love the car and drove it as often as possible before this issue came about. The car developed a vibration or resonance that makes me very uncomfortable physically (dizzy, etc). It's very fine - my family and friends feel it too, but they say it feels like "rough road".

I took the car to my usual Firestone shop to have the tires balances, etc. I went through 6 balances including swapping tires to different wheels to get the best balance - resonance is still present. I bought a set of '13 Altima take off wheels/tires I saw on CL locally and put those on - no change. I can rule out wheel / tire balance (P.S. Anyone want to buy '13 Altima wheels/tires cheap?).

I took the car to my Nissan dealer (had to wait a week for an appointment - never understand that) - they kept the car for 3 days just to tell me they did an inspection and didn't find anything wrong. I had several techs and the service manager evaluate the car only to tell me they couldn't find anything wrong again. Getting to the dealer before they close and arguing with service guys to find an obvious problem is not my idea of fun.

I decided to park the car (it's a 2nd car) and haven't driven it for the past couple of months. I have 7 months left on my lease and I'm probably going to let it sit for the 7 months and turn it in. It's a pretty cheap lease ($170/month) - I'd rather be driving it.

Has anyone had similar problems? I did a search and found a few others but their dealers seemed willing to work with them. One had a transmission (equivalent) replaced, etc.

This was my first Nissan and will likely be my last. I'm nearly 50, have purchased dozens of new cars in my life and have never had such a strange experience. Before this happened I planned to replace this Leaf with a new one when the lease was up. What else can I do?
 
Since it's very likely that the vibration is non-electric, try an independent shop. Dealers are notorious for low mechanic pay, so they don't really get the automotive brain-power necessary to do decent diagnosis. If it ain't in the dealer manual, it ain't a problem, or so they say.

Sometimes it can be as simple as an add-on that is making the noise. Some embarrassingly obvious examples are those window-mounted flags, personalized license plate frames, or cheap wheel covers. Don't give up on the Leaf over this - it's not a universal problem - but don't buy a new Leaf from the same dealer, either.
 
How about making a sound recording and posting it online or use a sound program (audacity) to look at audio frequencies during driving.
 
Is there some object in the side pocket of the doors that is vibrating while you drive?

Did you check in the glasses case holder in the middle up above the front window shield?
 
Once had an Audi that made all sorts of noises while driving. It was very apparent with any window open. Had the thing looked at by several mechanics, and they all said the driveline was fine, just keep driving it. Finally went to rotate the tires and found little pebbles in the wheel covers...
 
My wife doesn't like riding in the leaf -- says it makes her feel slightly nauseated. But it doesn't bother me or the kiddos. I wonder if it's a similar problem?
 
Nope. No probs w/mine.

What area are you located in? Can someone other Leafer try driving yours to see if there's anything unusual? Can you drive some other '13+ Leafs, as comparison?
 
jhm614 said:
My wife doesn't like riding in the leaf -- says it makes her feel slightly nauseated. But it doesn't bother me or the kiddos. I wonder if it's a similar problem?

My SO says the same thing but she is fine if she is driving. i think she just doesn't like my driving style :roll:
 
Thanks for all the comments. I did have the Firestone manager ride in the car with me. He said he could feel it, but didn't think it was a problem. They inspected the suspension, etc and found no problems.

Nothing loose in the car, and yes all windows are sealed, no add on flags or anything.

The vibration / resonance is very low in the car. You feel it in the floor. Most people say they feel it, but it doesn't bother them or they say it's normal. It's not normal. I drove car for 16 months without it.

I am in the Metro Detroit / Ann Arbor area. I'm really tired of dealing with this. I'm starting to feel like I'm the crazy one. Most places (dealer, Firestone) have called it normal or made a judgement that it doesn't bother them. I wouldn't usually just park a car and not drive it.
 
I'm also frustrated by the slightest noises too. Very sensitive. I know exactly the emotions you're going through when everyone else says 'Whaa? Can't hear a thing!'.

I'd like to help. Can you provide more info? As suggested, is it loud enough to record to an mp3 or is it more 'in your pants' type of low down vibration? Is it speed-resonant, same volume, gets louder/quieter with speed/acceleration/road condition/temperature? Is it a pure tone, heterodyning or mixed noise?

If your wheels and tyres are out of the picture, to my mind the obvious contenders are your shocks, drive-shafts or the motor system itself. A rolling road might help. I don't know if it is possible for a Leaf to be put in drive off the floor, but if it is and it happens at low speed you might think about jacking the wheels off the deck, take the wheels off, and letting the drive run. I would not recommend you do it at anything more than a slow speed as everything is designed to be under a load on the floor, but I did do exactly that once with a Plymouth coupe I couldn't track a vibration down to and jack the axle up and 'drove' the car to 'speed' (helped me figure out it was the UJs).
 
My Dad had issues with random noises as well due to his hearing aid. We would notice he drove erratically driving either too slow or too fast and he explained that at certain speeds, there was a low frequency vibration that really bothered him to the point where it would give him headaches if he drove longer than 20 mins or so. This went on for years. he usually had to turn his earring aid off.

We were never able to really understand his issues because no one but him was truly able to identify the sound he was referring to and I had been in the car dozens of times with him. it got to the point where he went thru 4 new cars in a 5 year stretch going from a Camry to a Lexus to a Ford, etc.

he finally got a Prius and the issue was resolved. When he passed away last Summer he was driving his 3rd Prius or at least claimed to be. The car was nearly a year old and had 2300 miles on it...
 
turbotaguy said:
The vibration / resonance is very low in the car. You feel it in the floor. Most people say they feel it, but it doesn't bother them or they say it's normal. It's not normal. I drove car for 16 months without it.

This could possibly be airflow-related. At what speed is it most pronounced? If you shift to Neutral at that speed, does the resonance go away or does it remain? If it remains I think you can rule out drivetrain especially since you seem to have already ruled out wheel balance and tires.

There is a large underbody panel for aerodynamic purposes. If a section is loose it could result in a resonance felt in the floor. Check under the car for anything loose flopping or hanging, especially the leading edge of the belly pan.
 
Nubo said:
If you shift to Neutral at that speed, does the resonance go away or does it remain? If it remains I think you can rule out drivetrain
What good would neutral do? 'Neutral' is purely an electrical setting, there is no mechanical change in the driveline.

Good point it could be an aero effect on the undertray.

Did they do any recent servicing on the car before it started? Missed a few screws out, perhaps? Get under the car and start thumping things, see if anything moves.

One thing I do when I am looking for under-body rattles and squeaks is to get a big rubber mallet and give the tyres a good whallop with it (on the treads, not the sidewalls!). This sends shock-waves into the chassis very similar to riding a rough road, and stimulates any rattles and creaks. Might work for you to in this situation.
 
turbotaguy said:
I am in the Metro Detroit / Ann Arbor area. I'm really tired of dealing with this. I'm starting to feel like I'm the crazy one. Most places (dealer, Firestone) have called it normal or made a judgement that it doesn't bother them. I wouldn't usually just park a car and not drive it.
Kubel is in that area, I believe. I recall there might be a few others in your neck of the woods.
 
turbotaguy said:
Thanks for all the comments. I did have the Firestone manager ride in the car with me. He said he could feel it, but didn't think it was a problem. They inspected the suspension, etc and found no problems.

Nothing loose in the car, and yes all windows are sealed, no add on flags or anything.

The vibration / resonance is very low in the car. You feel it in the floor. Most people say they feel it, but it doesn't bother them or they say it's normal. It's not normal. I drove car for 16 months without it.

I am in the Metro Detroit / Ann Arbor area. I'm really tired of dealing with this. I'm starting to feel like I'm the crazy one. Most places (dealer, Firestone) have called it normal or made a judgement that it doesn't bother them. I wouldn't usually just park a car and not drive it.

Did you ever find out the cause for this resonance noise?
I think I got something similar on my Leaf 2015.
It's a "singing" resonance noise at about 230Hz starting from 20mph to 55 when wind noises takes over.
The Nissan garage heard it as well but gave up looking for the cause and now states it's "normal".
But if that noise is normal for Leaf I'm shure more owners/testers would complain.
 
We test drove a 2017 Leaf today, done 21k miles. My wife and I both felt a dizzyness and nausousness in the short 20min journey. We couldn't figure it out. It was horrible and like nothing I've experienced in any car before. Took a good while to get over it. Really disappointed now cos we really wanted to buy a Leaf as our 2nd car. No way we can get one now!

There is no noise. Only vibration and resonance. At the time I blamed it on hard suspension, however, the suspension seems to get good reviews. I didn't see how it could be the motor because surely an electric motor should be infinitely smoother than say the rattling Land Rover diesel we are accostomed to.

Have you found anything more out about the problem? I shall contact a Nissan dealer in an attempt to find an explanation
 
Robkerr said:
We test drove a 2017 Leaf today, done 21k miles. My wife and I both felt a dizzyness and nausousness in the short 20min journey. We couldn't figure it out. It was horrible and like nothing I've experienced in any car before. Took a good while to get over it. Really disappointed now cos we really wanted to buy a Leaf as our 2nd car. No way we can get one now!

There is no noise. Only vibration and resonance. At the time I blamed it on hard suspension, however, the suspension seems to get good reviews. I didn't see how it could be the motor because surely an electric motor should be infinitely smoother than say the rattling Land Rover diesel we are accostomed to.

Have you found anything more out about the problem? I shall contact a Nissan dealer in an attempt to find an explanation

I have a 2017with 18,000 miles on it. My wife is very sensitive to rough driving/or hard tires. In another 6 months I may need to get another set of Michelin Tires. Check the tires AND the air pressure. Are the tires too thin? Pressure too high? Or different tires than Michelin?

When I had my 2011 Leaf and had driven the original Ecopia Tires about 30,000 miles the freeway road noise on the thinner thread even got to me. Switched to Michelin and both wife and I were happier.

On my current 2017 don’t seem to notice any vibration or resonance.

I would suggest you test drive a new Leaf with new Tires to see the difference.
 
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