Different Noises & Clunks

G'Day All,

Noticed yesterday after driving around 400km around Geelong & Ballarat in around 34 deg temps that by the end of the day the front end was starting to make some constant groaning and strange rubbing/grinding noises......Checked the hubs and they were alsmost too hot to touch.

Then today thought I put it in 4WD and lock the hubs in and then lots of clunking and locking of individual tyres etc.....couldnt really drive it at all, put it back in 2WD and was fine again expcept for that mild rubbing/grinding noise, also does it more so when changing down gears coming up to lights etc.....

Tried it in 4WD again an hour or two later after using 2WD and it drove fine expect for noises still.....

Any ideas guys, before I take it in for a check up or wait as its due in 1k for its 30k service ??

First ports of call, the bearing preload is too tight, or your brakes are dragging. They always intentionally drag a little but not so much that you can't turn the wheel by hand with the car jacked up.

Resetting the preload or resetting the brake pressure is neither difficult nor expensive for a mechanic, unless pads, rotors or hubs need replacing.

Based on the difficulty locking the hubs I'd say you're looking at incorrect preload. There are instructions in the service manual to dismantle the hub, but you'll need to google the method for setting preload without a gauge.

One of my wheels failed roadworthy for the preload being too loose - I set the preload without a gauge and it passed roadworthy, doesn't get hot and the hub slides in easy. The other wheel is fine but the hub doesn't slide into lock as easily.

Without seeing/hearing it personally, and by your description sounds like bearings.

Did it make more or less noise when cornering?

Jack up the front and check if any play in the hub,
holding the tyre one hand on top and one on the bottom.

Ok jacked her up this evening, both front wheels have no bearing issues from what I can gather, no movement or wobbles. They both also turn/spin fairly well but do have a slight clunking noise, more so when hubs are locked and in 4WD, so its still got me........Brakes where rubbing slightly but not enough for that to be the problem, could spin both the wheels, let go and could get a couple of rotations before stopping on them both.

Noise is probably a little worse now when driving and de-accelerating coming up to lights or a corner. Basically when rolling or not putting the foot down is when the noise is at its highest, then clunks when in 4WD and hubs lcoked in.

Any more ideas?

Is the noise definately coming from the hubs or is the noise/clunking coming from the frt diff centre.?....
strange for both hubs to be stuffed at the same time or for that matter at a low mileage of 29k

Is it making a grinding noise like you described before or just the clunking?

Is there oil in the diff housing?

Have you done any water crossings?

Has any work to these areas been done before or have the hubs & diff not been touched.

No river crossings, not even any decent 4WD'ing in months, do a lot of towing.
A grinding noise when driving, then when jacked up just the slight clunking noise when rotating wheels. To be honest I haven't the front diff for oil but never have seen a puddle of any signs of leaking under the front end. No nothing has been touched with diff or hubs since new only 29k ago...........

It could be the front diff, though like you say what are the chances of something going wrong with both sides wether it be hubs, CV's or bearings etc.

Maybe sometihng not going into gear right in the front diff, hence clunking and grinding or no oil, but I doubt it.

What about the front propeller shaft?

Just called Nissan, they cant even have a look at it till Friday......but from what I told the guy, yeah Old.Tony thinks it might be the prop shaft.

Although getting under the car and listening, there is a noise coming from the gearbox/transfer case.....

Surely the transfer chain isn't loose already? Have you done many km on sealed roads in 4WD mode?

No basically havent done any k's in 4WD mode on sealed roads, a lot in 2WD mode recently but no 4WD'ing at all for at least 3 months now.........

Getting there mate...

Started at the frt hubs,

and your at the g/box-transfercase now


process of elimination this is.

Ok well Navara was in @ Nissan all day today, they have found a lot of metal shavings & small pieces in oil in gearbox/transfer case.......So now they need to for a whole week to pull it all apart find the problem, order the parts, fix and put it all back together again.

Off course they cannot do all this till Monday week...so getting injectors looked at, at the same time (possible re-programming) or replace if necessary & a 30k service while we are at it, upgrading the oil to fully synthetic.

Lets hope all this goes to plan..........................................?

Keep us posted.

Sounds like a good start, hope it's a good finish!

Navara has been in at Nissan since 7.30am on Monday, 6 days now. Initially it was just the thrust bearing, now they tell me its other parts also. Should be ready for pickup Monday late morning with a detailed description. They are also looking at Injectors and doing a 30k service while its there. Haggled them into installing a genuine Nissan snorkel also for $600 supplied & fitted........ More news Monday touch wood !!

is there an update?

Yes there sure is.
As per usual turned up to collect Monday morning, "Sorry sir but your vehcile is not ready yet, but we have another D22 for you to use for today instead of the Nissan Tida" which didnt impress me. Anyhow got a call that afternoon to say it was all completed and ready to go.

So they replaced the following parts,
N32219 01G10AU Bearing - Counter Shaft
N/32212 AA304 Gear - Counter
N/32225 01G00 Bearing - Needle
N/00922 13200 Ring - Snap
N/KP810 00150 Fluid Gasket 1207F (100 Gram)

The 30K service was also completed and they looked at the Injectors, couldnt fault them supposably, but reset or re-mapped ECU and that has actually stopped all the black smoke I was getting but so far hasn't improved fuel economy but haven't really ran a whole tank yet so will wait and see for that part of it. The gear selector is now really stiff, occasionally clunks into reverse now and is a struggle to put into 1st or 5th gear......so will have to go back for another adjustment I would say.

So all in all, not happy that I was without my work ute for 8 days but everything has been fixed and/or looked at and adjusted, was only charged for 2 days for the use of their courtesy/hire car not the whole 8 and snorkel was fitted at a great price.