Loud clunking in reverse - help !

[Galiano]

Our 2013 SL is garage kept. It has about 25k miles.

Most mornings when I back it out of the garage there is a loud clunk, clunk, clunk from the back of the car. Loud. And occasionally a metallic grinding like a worn out brake pad. It never does it the rest of the day.

I have had the car to our dealer twice leaving it overnight. Of course there is no noise when the car is with the dealer and they can't find anything wrong.

This is a really loud noise so I'm concerned. Any thoughts ?

 

[jpadc]

Are you in a cold climate? Using the parking brake at night?

 

[smkettner]

Ever stand outside while someone else backs out?

 

[cwerdna]

Can you post a sound clip or video of the noise? YouTube lets you pretty easily upload one.

 

[camasleaf]

Drove through rain/water? Rust on the disk? I hear noises sometime. I to use the brakes more, no regen, and they seem to go away.

 

[Galiano]

Thanks for your replies. I'm on Vancouver Island. We've had a mild winter, not even any frost and the car is in a garage. We do use the E brake when the car is sitting. I've tried without it and get the same noise. I'll try standing beside the car while my wife backs it out.

As I mentioned, it's a loud clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

I'm baffled

 

[kubel]

Multiple clunks don't indicate a frozen rear e-brake, which was my first guess. Grinding is also concerning. I would check the play on the pads, or even worse, the play on the calipers. I wouldn't continue driving the car in its present state.

 

[aarond12]

Try backing into your garage then pulling out straight in the morning. See if the clunking happens that way. You might be experiencing the clunking from the ABS, and there could be some sort of problem with the sensor while in reverse. (Just a wild guess.)

 

[RegGuheert]

I once experienced strange loud noises from one of the wheels on my Honda Civic Hybrid. It only occurred occasionally. In that case, I discovered that a couple of pieces of gravel had fallen between the brake disc and the thin metal heat shield. Under certain conditions, that piece of gravel would clatter around in there and make a racket.

I'm throwing this out as a possibility even though I cannot imagine a dealership not being able to find such a problem.

 

[Galiano]

I have no choice but to continue driving the car. I think it's fine once I get out of our driveway, but it is very frustrating that I have had it in to the dealer twice and they can't find the problem

 

[Reddy]

I have a similar noise (without the Clunk, Clunk, Clunk) every time I back up. My sound is just a bit of scraping, with a bit of an oscillation in the volume. I just assumed that the pads scrape a bit when backing up, and the oscillation is due to slight imperfection in the discs. Since I rarely use the brakes, I also assumed there might be a rust buildup (we have had a decent amount of snow this winter). Nearly all of my driving is in-town at less than 40 mph and I regen-hypermile to the stop lights. I haven't worried about it too much and haven't seen anything else posted on MNL until now, that's why I haven't said anything. I have a 2011 and we are located in a dry (<6" rain per year) area. I use the e-brake daily since I have a pretty substantially steep driveway. If nobody else posts a youtube of the sound, I'll try to do that.

 

[nickandre]

I've gotten something similar, possibly. When I back the vehicle up in cold temps and turn the steering wheel it sounds like a loud click or clunk. I'll try to make a recording.

 

[jjeff]

I've gotten something similar, possibly. When I back the vehicle up in cold temps and turn the steering wheel it sounds like a loud click or clunk. I'll try to make a recording.

I'm not sure thats what everyone is talking about but I also get what you describe. To me it sounds like bad ball joints(having driven cars with 200K+ miles before) but I first noticed it my first winter with the Leaf and it had less than 10K miles. It's not the easiest to show someone and as you said, it gets worse the colder it gets. My first winter I drove my Leaf to the dealer and had them look at it, wouldn't you know that by the time I drove there things had warmed up enough where the noise was hardly there. I felt like an idiot but the tech was sympathetic and said it was going to get colder the next morning and I could drop it off the following day first thing and he'd look at it right away. I dropped it off before they opened and got a ride to work. I got a call later in the morning and the tech said heard it "a little" and thought it was bushings. I picked up the car later that day and he ordered the parts. A few weeks later(when it was warmer) the parts came in and he installed them(took several hours so I left it there again). Of course it didn't make the noise right away but the first cold morning I drove it I heard the noise again, maybe a bit quieter but that might have been just wishful thinking on my part.
I still hear the noise, gets worse the colder it gets and really only when backing up and turning the steering wheel(not necessarily lock to lock) and I just shake my head. If I knew it was only the sound and not a sign of something bad I'd rest easier but I just don't know what it could be. Note sometimes I'm able to feel the car kind of jerk when it makes the noise and a time or two when I was on ice or snow and backed up and it made the click the car seemed like it again jerked at the front tires. I did have to rotate my front tires to the back at ~12K because they were basically bald on the outside of both fronts. After the rotation and putting the much better looking rear tires on the front I had them align it(my cost as it was at 13 months, 1 month past when they might do it for free) where they found no bad parts but said it was "a little" out of alignment. I had hoped for "a lot" out of alignment as they would explain the severely worn tires and clunking noise but that was not the case. I really try and avoid pot holes and don't hit curbs so the fact that it could be out of alignment surprised me, if figured if it was out of alignment, it must have been so from the factory or the 100 miles or so the car had on it before I bought it.
I probably only have 5k upon putting the rear tires on the front and I can't say that I see any abnormal wear but time will tell, no way I'm going to put the old front tires back on the front as they are as I said, basically bald on the outside edges. If the rears get bad enough or the fronts start wearing on the edges I'll just get 4 new tires. The car still clunks when backing it up in the cold, I try and ignore it

 

[Reddy]

I have a similar noise (without the Clunk, Clunk, Clunk) every time I back up. My sound is just a bit of scraping, with a bit of an oscillation in the volume. I just assumed that the pads scrape a bit when backing up, and the oscillation is due to slight imperfection in the discs. Since I rarely use the brakes, I also assumed there might be a rust buildup (we have had a decent amount of snow this winter). Nearly all of my driving is in-town at less than 40 mph and I regen-hypermile to the stop lights. I haven't worried about it too much and haven't seen anything else posted on MNL until now, that's why I haven't said anything. I have a 2011 and we are located in a dry (<6" rain per year) area. I use the e-brake daily since I have a pretty substantially steep driveway. If nobody else posts a youtube of the sound, I'll try to do that.

Ok, it's only been a few days, but I've stopped using the E-brake and my noise is essentially gone. I haven't changed my driving habits, still hypermiling, so no significant use of friction brakes. Also, we've had a significant amount of rain the past week (well, at least for here). If anyone else is experiencing this type of noise, give it a try.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

came here looking for an answer but... oh well

I have experienced your issue randomly over the past 2 years with my 2013. I don't remember it happening on my 2011 and its usually just a single clunk going into reverse and it sounds like a few previous cars I have owned along with their associated loose u-joint issues.

other than that; no other detrimental drive train issues that I can detect. I do have an issue with spinning tires in Winter when the road is wet and my patience is short but pretty sure that is not a mechanical fix.

 

[jonedney]

For what it's worth my Leaf does almost the same thing. Every morning in winter when I reverse a single loud clunk from the rear. Temp is well above freezing here but it never does it in the summer and never does is at the dealer when I have asked them to investigate!