Noise Nissan unable to diagnose

Evening all,

I’ve just collected my 2016 leaf for 6th attempt of a dealer to try and solve a knocking noise to no avail.

It sounds and feels like it’s coming from the near side front wheel. The car also physically jumps at the same time.

It only happens on a very cold start when turning the wheel in any direction.

There are some videos here:
[youtube] https://youtu.be/n8myPp3aD_4[/youtube]
[youtube] https://youtu.be/ICP3lgZFAgw[/youtube]
[youtube] https://youtu.be/B57qgQcfnEU[/youtube]
[youtube] https://youtu.be/traFhiZXKqY[/youtube]

In just the right position it almost feels like the whew is going to fall off.

So far the dealer has:
Replaced the brake disks
Tightened some loose bolts on a frame
Replaced a cvt joint that was leaking grease
Replaced a driveshaft (and replaced the new one again believing it had failed)

Forgive me if the above does not explain enough as I am in no way technical.

The dealer is trying to say they cannot replicate the fault now and believe they have fixed it - they would not come out with me today so I could show them they hadn’t fixed it which was frustrating.

Any ideas please? I have scoured the forums and google and the only thing that comes close is a possible suspension issue?

Have them check the bolts that hold the front suspension struts in place. While the noise sounds like it is related to wheel rotation, it doesn't happen every revolution, and so may actually instead be happening as the wheel moves up and down.

So just picked up the vehicle again and the dealer is still insisting they cannot find a fault.

They said they can only replicate a noise on full lock when the tyre slip because of uneven wear.

I insisted (as per my videos) that this noise is only on cold start in cold weather, and not necessarily on full lock.

The tyres do indeed slip sometimes and this happens all year round regardless of the weather or how long the car has been driven. The tyres drag and is a very different sensation and noise to the one in my videos.

The dealer is no longer interested so I'm at a loose end.

The say they have fully inspected the:
- sub frame bolts
- strut nuts
- suspensions
- brakes

I have purchased some of https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-Front...zA7Km0sfK2lD4mWoNeoYobCthSXRKIXkaAnkwEALw_wcB after suspecting it may be the cause.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Did they check the wheel bearings?

knightmb said:

Did they check the wheel bearings?

Click to expand...

They haven’t mentioned it if they have

They couldn't be bothered to check a problem which you could demonstrate was obviously not fixed in just a few seconds? Or just look at your video? Find a dealer who cares about your safety and about fixing cars; these guys are obviously uncaring, incompetent or both and I wouldn't trust the car to them even if they changed their minds.

Nubo said:

They couldn't be bothered to check a problem which you could demonstrate was obviously not fixed in just a few seconds? Or just look at your video? Find a dealer who cares about your safety and about fixing cars; these guys are obviously uncaring, incompetent or both and I wouldn't trust the car to them even if they changed their minds.

Click to expand...

I know this is the second Nissan dealer I've tried, both have now fobbed me off.

It is a warranty job so am stuck with the dealer really, unless I go third party and claim the costs through the courts, as I'm getting the impression the dealers won't pay up.

I don't know if it will help, but perhaps try mounting a camera or cell phone within the wheel well, to see if you can capture any evidence of where the mechanical noise is coming from.

wm2020 said:

It is a warranty job so am stuck with the dealer really, unless I go third party and claim the costs through the courts, as I'm getting the impression the dealers won't pay up.

Click to expand...

You might want to find a good independent mechanic to give you a diagnosis and once you have that you can go back to the dealer with his/her diagnosis.

Sounds similar to the noise that I'm still trying to track down in my 2017 SV after many visits to the dealer:
https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=31105

Videos in this post:
https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=31105&start=20#p584381

My warranty ran out in July 2020 and it seemed that the last service trip just before that resolved it, but it returned a couple months later. It's been exasperating. It seems like it shouldn't be so difficult to track down in a bog-standard McPherson strut configuration that Nissan makes millions of.

EDIT: My dealer also found loose subframe bolts, which I found to be shockingly bad. After considering further, I assume the nuts that hold them — that are indicated as single-use in the service manual — are locking and are unlikely to cause catastrophic suspension failure.

I've been trying to isolate it in the last week. So far I've disconnected the sway bar end links (no change) and temporarily removed the outer tie rod ends from the steering knuckle to move things around independently. Everything feels smooth and has no play. The only part my Nissan dealer replaced was the right strut mount and bearing. I can't decide whether I want to replace nearly everything (control arms [incl. ball joints], struts, mounts, outer tie rod ends) or just wait for it to get worse.

In my experience, 'one time use' bolts are usually torque to yield bolts. Their torque spec will be something like 90 lb-ft + 1/4 turn. This causes the bolt to enter the yield range of the steel and insures that holding force/torque is correct. They are also called 'stretch bolts' since they are deformed or stretched during installation and thus should not be used again.

Edit: nevermind, I guess. You mentioned one time use nuts, not bolts. You're probably right that they are some sort of locking nuts.

goldbrick said:

In my experience, 'one time use' bolts are usually torque to yield bolts. Their torque spec will be something like 90 lb-ft + 1/4 turn. This causes the bolt to enter the yield range of the steel and insures that holding force/torque is correct. They are also called 'stretch bolts' since they are deformed or stretched during installation and thus should not be used again.

Edit: nevermind, I guess. You mentioned one time use nuts, not bolts. You're probably right that they are some sort of locking nuts.

Click to expand...

I've removed the tie rod end nuts and the sway bar end link nuts and they are both locking. (I needed my pneumatic impact to remove the end link nut... sheesh.) Since those and the subframe nuts are indicated as single use in the service manual, I'm assuming they are all locking. I reassembled with Loctite for now, though will duly replace them when I'm satisfied that I'm done with the project.

My VWs over the years have had a bunch of stretch bolts. That's not what I'm talking about here.

Here are a couple of potential noise sources that I haven't heard mentioned.

CV joint/stub shaft to bearing/hub fretting due to slight looseness - Even with the nut properly torqued, there may be a mismatch between either the faces of the bearing and the stub shaft/outboard edge of the outboard CV joint, or between the splines of the hub and the stub shaft. This would cause a pop when enough torque is applied to the connection to cause one piece to shift relative to the other. In short, it is a mismatched parts/bad engineering/manufacturing problem. This can cause a single pop on first torque event or multiple pops.

The cure, if it is the above thing, is to either wait for Nissan to acknowledge the problem and produce better-matching parts, or to take the CV shaft loose from the hub and apply a very thin layer of grease to the offending surfaces (face and splines of the outer CV joint and stub axle) so they don't catch-and-release and make that popping sound. Applying more torques than is called for to the nut when reinstalling is often key to a successful noise kill, but you don't want to overdo it and warp the hub and shorten bearing life.

The second thing is a hub nut that is too loose and causing the above problem. It can be tightened to the factory spec and still be too loose for the parts in the car; a little bit of overtightening followed by a test drive will let you know if this is the case.

The third thing is a way-overtightened hub nut, warping the hub (center piece pressed into the bearing) making it less than cylindrical so it can shift inside the inner bearing race. The test for that is to mark the nut with Sharpie, back it off, torque it to spec, and see if your marks don't match. If you didn't turn it as far when you retorqued it, it was overtightened before; try driving it over a few bumps to reseat the hub inside the bearings, and your noise may go away.

Last thing - if your car has lived in the land of rust, anything could be wrong with the many parts that all fit together near the wheel bearing.

I have same problem on my Leaf 2014.
Changed forks, suspension front and rear, stabilizers, but I didnt changed cv joints yet.
After changing shock absorbers Ive noticed that it was all good for maybe 2 months, and when it got colder it started happening again.
When I accelerate faster car would move to left, when I go over uneven road car would jump and make some weird sound.
When going on slippery road, or in a wet public garage for example, when I turn the wheel to one side fully, it would slip, skid to other side very easily.
I dont have any idea anymore what it could be.
Several mechanics checkes it, and no one found a problem...