Sound of something loose on driver side... RESOLVED

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

Memina

Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
12
Location
Bay area, CA
While driving with radio off, on a sunny date, no extra noises background inside or outside of car. I have been hearing something rattling very lightly on driver side , I cannot seem to figure out from where. There is no loose things or coins inside the car, but checked under the hood, and notice that top fuse box is somewhat loose,but unsure if that's the culprit..

Anyone has similar issue?
 
I've only had two things rattle in my car...Sunglasses in the upper holder, and a Sandisk Cruizer USB stick....
 
I've been living with a rattling noise in my LEAF, too, for the last several months. Still can't figure what it is. I've posted a Youtube video capturing the sound on this forum, but nobody else has any idea. Mine is more of a banging noise instead of rattling, somewhere out under the front dash. Very random.
 
This probably isn't it, but I couldn't find what sounded like a rattle from the dash once, but it turned out to be the sun visor not clicked in all the way. :roll:
 
I had a noise when I first got my Leaf. After a while I realized that it was the passenger seat belt (the metal clip) rattling against plastic. No passenger in the seat.
 
Nothing inside the visor. Not the seat belts either. Tried fidgeting with the seat, is not creating that sound. It's only noticeable when I'm driving on uneven road, not the bumpy type.. Does this make sense? I'm gonna have to try to record it
 
Memina said:
Nothing inside the visor. Not the seat belts either. Tried fidgeting with the seat, is not creating that sound. It's only noticeable when I'm driving on uneven road, not the bumpy type.. Does this make sense? I'm gonna have to try to record it
Click to expand...
Check out my thread here and see the post at the bottom of the page to listen to a Youtube clip of where I record my tapping noise. See if this sounds like yours or not.
 
Nope, not your popping sound... It's a very low rattling, like something loose, heard at (~35-40 mph) I have tried looking under front hood, (only things that feels loose is the fuse box at the top right hand corner. I have not tried looking under, but will try to record sound and see if anyone has identified that.
Thanks
 
Update: took leaf in for first maintenance service.

Foreman technician noticeably hears the rattle coming off driver front dash @ 30/35 mph. They took dash off, but couldn't find culprit. Will keep car for at least 2-3 days to fix, and take apart more in depth.
 
I have had a rattling noise up front since the day I got the car, best heard at about 10 mph,
Took the tech for a ride, and he heard it too.

Said it sounds like a strut.
Oddly enough, they found a leaking passenger side strut at inspection a month ago.
I think whatever is rattling took the strut out.

Shouldn't have a leaking strut at $8000 miles.

I asked the service department to check with Nissan to see what this has been for other people, because I have read lots of other stories on here about people with this rattling noise, and would rather not have my car all taken apart looking for something that SOMEBODY already knows about.

Apparently, Nissan has never heard of such a problem.

I think I'll live with it until someone DOES hear about it, and knows what to fix without everything on my car piling up on the service floor.

Anybody have this with a successful diagnosis?
 
Update - day 3

According to Nissan rep - technicians took dashboard apart, but found no sign of culprit. Then took car to body shop to see if it had to do with the frames, and no luck. So come Monday they will try and figure out some more.
 
Update - a week later.

Actual comments from servicing

"Removed L/S lower dash panel and knee bar. Road test = ng. unable to isolate. Removed L/S A pillar finished and road test = ng. Removed L/S dash vent and road test =ng. removed upper and lower IP clusters and road test =ng. Removed IP assy and road test =ng. Call fix for database search. Fixs says to leave car apart and send to body shop. Technician does not want car to go to body shop. Removed cowling and road test =ng. Removed front bumper and L/F Headlamp and road test = noise gone. Isolated noise to a contact spot on the headlamp. Insulated contact point with felt tape and reinstalled headlamp and bumper. Road test ok. Reinstalled all other parts removed and road test ok. Cleared codes set during diagnosis from all systems and check operation ok."

In other words Nissan took dashboard, out. Had technician drive around to determine the rattle location. foreman technician did not take it to the body shop for inspection, instead everything was stripped out, even front bumper. down to just frame supposedly. And finally, located noise to front headlight, a pin below it was loose and was the cause of all that rattle, the sound of it reverberating into the vents. Finally had my Leaf back, a luxury compared to the rental Versa that I was given.

FYI, a recall was also updated on the car about the battery charger control.
P3227 leaf reprogram
CHARGER 296A0-3NA6A to -3NA7A
HV BATT 293A0-3NA1B to -3NA1C
Reprogram Lithium Ion Battery controller and the on board ch P32270
 
Yes, this is the update campaign for the battery capacity garage accuracy and the charger compatibility.

Memina said:
FYI, a recall was also updated on the car about the battery charger control.
P3227 leaf reprogram
CHARGER 296A0-3NA6A to -3NA7A
HV BATT 293A0-3NA1B to -3NA1C
Reprogram Lithium Ion Battery controller and the on board ch P32270
Click to expand...
 
Is this Recall only for the 2012?




Memina said:
FYI, a recall was also updated on the car about the battery charger control.
P3227 leaf reprogram
CHARGER 296A0-3NA6A to -3NA7A
HV BATT 293A0-3NA1B to -3NA1C
Reprogram Lithium Ion Battery controller and the on board ch P32270
Click to expand...
 
Lasareath said:
Is this Recall only for the 2012?

No, 2011s also.




Memina said:
FYI, a recall was also updated on the car about the battery charger control.
P3227 leaf reprogram
CHARGER 296A0-3NA6A to -3NA7A
HV BATT 293A0-3NA1B to -3NA1C
Reprogram Lithium Ion Battery controller and the on board ch P32270
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Memina said:
Update - a week later.

Actual comments from servicing

"Removed L/S lower dash panel and knee bar. Road test = ng. unable to isolate. Removed L/S A pillar finished and road test = ng. Removed L/S dash vent and road test =ng. removed upper and lower IP clusters and road test =ng. Removed IP assy and road test =ng. Call fix for database search. Fixs says to leave car apart and send to body shop. Technician does not want car to go to body shop. Removed cowling and road test =ng. Removed front bumper and L/F Headlamp and road test = noise gone. Isolated noise to a contact spot on the headlamp. Insulated contact point with felt tape and reinstalled headlamp and bumper. Road test ok. Reinstalled all other parts removed and road test ok. Cleared codes set during diagnosis from all systems and check operation ok."

In other words Nissan took dashboard, out. Had technician drive around to determine the rattle location. foreman technician did not take it to the body shop for inspection, instead everything was stripped out, even front bumper. down to just frame supposedly. And finally, located noise to front headlight, a pin below it was loose and was the cause of all that rattle, the sound of it reverberating into the vents. Finally had my Leaf back, a luxury compared to the rental Versa that I was given.

FYI, a recall was also updated on the car about the battery charger control.
P3227 leaf reprogram
CHARGER 296A0-3NA6A to -3NA7A
HV BATT 293A0-3NA1B to -3NA1C
Reprogram Lithium Ion Battery controller and the on board ch P32270
Click to expand...

Wow, fantastic service. Things like this are difficult to pin down and many service depts don't have the patience.
 
Was this something that was covered by a warranty? Seems like they went to extreme lengths to resolve it. Way beyond what I would expect. They can't possibly do this for every issue.

On the plus side, hopefully this gets added to their support DB so that no tech ever has to tear the car down like this again.
 

Similar threads

C
[GUIDE] LED light bar installation on LED headlight Leaf ZE1
Replies
7
Views
5K
CeladonCityNPC
C
G
Official Vinfast VF8 topic
Replies
6
Views
3K
GRA
G
M
Southking SK-EV16: cheap Chinese EVSE with adjustable Current Capacity
Replies
9
Views
4K
jjeff
J
O
2018 Nissan Leaf SV - Amplifier + Sub + 4 Speaker Replacement
2
Replies
22
Views
21K
Flamur
F
A
2018 Nissan Leaf First Drive Review
Replies
3
Views
5K
jonathanfields4ever
J

Latest posts

Back
Top