Clicking noise during acceleration and decceleration

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Well, So far no one has guessed correctly :)

A tech rep from HQ, less than a mile away, shows up @ the dealer; agrees with me it aint normal.

He & mech spent about 2 hrs & then ordered a "traction motor". Waiting to see if that fixes the problem.

Will let everyone know, probably by Fri.
 
My wife's 2011 has just started doing this about a week ago, figured I'd jump on the forum and do a search (been off of here for a while, life is way too busy lately). Imagine my surprise to find a current thread talking about this exact same thing!

For ours, it appears to be related to regen. If you let off the accelerator and it goes into regen mode (2 or more bubbles) then I get a click, then back to accelerating I get another click. One click each way, not both. I can get it to happen by lightly tapping the breaks, or just letting off the accelerator. Also noticed that it doesn't happen (or at least not nearly as noticeable) when I have a full charge, meaning that it's not going into regen because it doesn't need to. That's the case even when braking, which leads me to believe it's NOT a brake issue.

By the way, it's MUCH easier to hear things like this when you're in a garage. The concrete walls bounce the noise back, so things you might not notice out on the street can be very obvious in an enclosed garage. This clicking is definitely loud enough to hear out on the road even with the windows closed (when I turn down the stereo, that is), but is much louder in the garage at my work and makes it obvious that it's NOT normal and definitely wasn't there a month or two ago.

My wife's old Prizm (her gas car before the Leaf) had a similar problem, and it ended up being a loose motor mount. The whole engine was basically shifting back and forth when it went from compression to acceleration. I'm wondering if it's something similar with something being loose so there is a little play when the rotation direction switches or something.

Very curious to see what comes out of this thread. I'm trying to figure out when I can take ours in to get it checked out, but like I said life is crazy so hopefully I'll get some answers here which can save me time at the dealer! :)
 
I just got my Leaf back after less than a week; clicking noise is gone :)

They replaced the "reduction gear" which, I understand, is between the main electric motor & the transaxle.

In a previous post I mentioned the "traction motor", but it was not that.

All is well 4 now.
 
Sorry if you posted that already but how many miles in your 2012 LEAF? Also what's your typical driving style? Do you "jack rabbit" all your starts or do you drive in ECO mode? Do you go through very steep grades?

I'm just wondering if you had a defective part or if you've somehow worn the transmission prematurely.

Was I not paying attention or is this the actual first report of such case for a LEAF (replacement of the reduction gear box) ?
 
ericsf, 19,000mi. we always drive in ECO mode & drive reasonable, ie no peeling the rubber :lol:

seems it was an internal failure of the reduction gear; nothing the mech could see visually, but could hear.

BTW, I just heard the 2013 range is 130 mi.
 
ualdep said:
BTW, I just heard the 2013 range is 130 mi.
:lol: :lol: :lol: <gasp> <gasp> :lol: :lol: :lol:

But speaking of funny, my first reaction was, "They must be jamming it into gear from neutral with the motor revved." But I didn't post that because I was afraid someone might take it seriously.

Ray
 
Thanks for the info. Everything points to a defective part in your case. Nice that they diagnosed it right and replaced it under warranty. The clunk on mine is still gone after 10K miles. I was expecting that the lubrication fix would only work for so long and that the noise would come back. But so far it has not.

ualdep said:
BTW, I just heard the 2013 range is 130 mi.

We all wish that was true but no :(
 
ericsf said:
Thanks for the info. Everything points to a defective part in your case. Nice that they diagnosed it right and replaced it under warranty. The clunk on mine is still gone after 10K miles. I was expecting that the lubrication fix would only work for so long and that the noise would come back. But so far it has not.

Sometimes noise can come from very small movements in the interface between ostensibly stationary parts. I've had mysterious noises on my bike that were finally solved by applying lubricant or anti-seize compound to parts that you'd never consider to be in "motion", such as chainring bolts. I imagine the spindle lube falls into that category.
 
I have leased 2 different 2013 sl's within the last 3 weeks and my first car didn't click on or off the accelerator pedal, but my current one does..... So i went to my dealer and asked to test drive another sl and didn't either. It made the noise from day one....So on monday ill be dropping it off to diagnose . It makes 2 to 3 clicking sounds from a dead stop and as well as from a coast down from 35 to 17 mph range.. click click. click click..
While trying to figure out the cause I've learned it doesn't do it while in neutral while coming to a stop at all.. It does make this sound every take off and stop.. will see what happens
 
bigt said:
I have leased 2 different 2013 sl's within the last 3 weeks and my first car didn't click on or off the accelerator pedal, but my current one does..... So i went to my dealer and asked to test drive another sl and didn't either. It made the noise from day one....So on monday ill be dropping it off to diagnose . It makes 2 to 3 clicking sounds from a dead stop and as well as from a coast down from 35 to 17 mph range.. click click. click click..
While trying to figure out the cause I've learned it doesn't do it while in neutral while coming to a stop at all.. It does make this sound every take off and stop.. will see what happens

I am having the exact same problem. Am at the dealer now. Please update and I will as well. Thx
 
i did open a new thread and i posted on the results but... it didn't work after 800 miles of driving.

it was a tsb to lube the inside and outside hub bearings . its a recall thats on a lot of nissans..

It sounds the same now as before. but after first lube job attempt it did make it go away until my first long freeway drive at normal 75 mph for 20 miles and it came back at day one. it seems to load up for each direction of travel and at each momentum change. ie stand still to forward .. click click then goes away until i come to a stop and or slow from 35 mph to say 17 mph .... click .. sometimes click... then repeat. I actually kind of gave up trying to fix it because the dealer would have my car longer and i could care less as long as it get me where i need to go while the stereo is turned up.... at my 3 month i believe they will attempt to have bill the norcal service leaftech try round 2. I will reply more if it gets fixed
 
bigt said:
i did open a new thread and i posted on the results but... it didn't work after 800 miles of driving.

it was a tsb to lube the inside and outside hub bearings . its a recall thats on a lot of nissans..

It sounds the same now as before. but after first lube job attempt it did make it go away until my first long freeway drive at normal 75 mph for 20 miles and it came back at day one. it seems to load up for each direction of travel and at each momentum change. ie stand still to forward .. click click then goes away until i come to a stop and or slow from 35 mph to say 17 mph .... click .. sometimes click... then repeat. I actually kind of gave up trying to fix it because the dealer would have my car longer and i could care less as long as it get me where i need to go while the stereo is turned up.... at my 3 month i believe they will attempt to have bill the norcal service leaftech try round 2. I will reply more if it gets fixed

That's what they did to mine today. Dang. I was excited when it worked. If it is a recall, then they should do more to fix it. Thanks for the info.
 
So my 2013 SV which just crossed 1,000 miles today is making this same clicking / clunking noise as well and only on acceleration or braking. I also noticed it doesn't do it if I slow down in neutral. Sounds like a trip to the dealer to have it diagnosed is in order.
 
QueenBee said:
So from what I understand an issue that will probably end up impacting every LEAF is a clunking sound which occurs just once when changing directions (forward to reverse and reverse to forward).

This specific issue has to do with the play that the brake pads have within the retaining clips on the calipers. To reproduce is simple: Backup your car, apply brakes to stop. Then move forward, you should hear the clunk. It'll happen in the reverse order as well.

To be clear this will only happen once when changing directions. So if you accelerate, brake, etc. while moving forward and can make the noise happen each time then it is a different issue.

Gary, BTW: the brake pads are basically always in contact with the rotor. The issue I describe above would actually not be an issue if the brake pads were not in contact with the rotor.

Thanks QueenBee! I heard that Clunk with the 2011 too, and thought it was normal reduction gear noise. Never gave a thought that it could be the brake pads. So all the brake pads shift at once?
 
LEAFfan said:
QueenBee said:
So from what I understand an issue that will probably end up impacting every LEAF is a clunking sound which occurs just once when changing directions (forward to reverse and reverse to forward).

This specific issue has to do with the play that the brake pads have within the retaining clips on the calipers. To reproduce is simple: Backup your car, apply brakes to stop. Then move forward, you should hear the clunk. It'll happen in the reverse order as well.

To be clear this will only happen once when changing directions. So if you accelerate, brake, etc. while moving forward and can make the noise happen each time then it is a different issue.

Gary, BTW: the brake pads are basically always in contact with the rotor. The issue I describe above would actually not be an issue if the brake pads were not in contact with the rotor.

Thanks QueenBee! I heard that Clunk with the 2011 too, and thought it was normal reduction gear noise. Never gave a thought that it could be the brake pads. So all the brake pads shift at once?

Yeah, seems that way sense I don't really hear multiple clunks. My Nissan Tech offered to replace the retaining clips under warranty but said it would just come back and that it wasn't an issue to worry about.
 
for what its worth, I had this same problem and was told it was s simple fix - "replacing the cotter pins at the hubs on the two front wheels." they did this yesterday, free under warrantee, and the clicking sound seems to be gone. they said theyve seen this alot (not sure if just on Leafs or on other Nissans too). We'll see if it comes back.
 
Note that there are two different types of sounds: There is a clicking that occurs when you lightly accelerate or decelerate - change from one loading direction to another - which is the cotter keys, and then there is a light whir that happens at very slow speeds which is the bearing lubrication (a number of other Nissans have this same problem)... I think people may be confusing one for the other...


potrero said:
for what its worth, I had this same problem and was told it was s simple fix - "replacing the cotter pins at the hubs on the two front wheels." they did this yesterday, free under warrantee, and the clicking sound seems to be gone. they said theyve seen this alot (not sure if just on Leafs or on other Nissans too). We'll see if it comes back.
 
potrero said:
for what its worth, I had this same problem and was told it was s simple fix - "replacing the cotter pins at the hubs on the two front wheels." they did this yesterday, free under warrantee, and the clicking sound seems to be gone. they said theyve seen this alot (not sure if just on Leafs or on other Nissans too). We'll see if it comes back.

That does not sound right...
Cotter pins are there just for safety, to make sure the main axle nut won't come lose, but AFAIK that nut should be always tightened to a certain momentum, so the only way the cotter pin can make sound is if the nut is loose, which is a bad thing by itself and might cause the wheel to wobble...

To the sound of this crackling reminds me the sound of bad connection between pedal crank and the hub on the bicycle... If there's some small movement in the connection, you'll have exactly the same crackling.

So, I kind of suspect that there's some unexpected/unhandled backlash where axle connects to either wheelhub or to differential, or maybe somewhere in differential itself. The standard nissan solution to it was to grease it from outside, which might silence it for sometime, but it won't fix it as backlash is still there, so when the grease will be forced out of this backlash, the sound will return...

I'm just amazed that with so many reports of the problem there's no action/investigation from Nissan :( and dealers are mostly oblivious, either trying to fix what aint broken or denying that there's a problem...
 
I'd be curious if others have the sound stop when braking in neutral, as I was able to find out. I'm assuming this eliminates the brakes as the cause of the noise.
 
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