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Thump And Clunks At Rear


KLL
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dear friends, as a newcomer i salute you once more. I own this 99 pathfinder automatic for 1.5 year. It is 115000 miles. it is properly serviced, and i replaced shocks, front and reas suspension element (bushings at rear axle).

 

when i try to accelerate slowly, while shifting 1st to 2nd, it is little bi t harsh. This is because of auto tranny is getting older. Its ok for me i can live with it, but..

Most of the times, this harsh shifting cause a thump/clunk sound at back. I replaced worn bushings and car handles better and comfort level increased and thump feeling is less. But it is still evident. Also when i am cruising around 40 miles, and when i let the car flow on road by its own momentum, and when i step on the gas slowly, it makes a thump/clunk even it is a higher gear on tranny. Also sometimes i hear clunk noise very similar to shaft joint caused noise.

 

I went to several repairmen, one of them is a pro on transmission and LSD, other was good on shafts. none of them told me that parts were wrong and suggested me to replace bushigns at back first because as we experienced together with them, wheels were moving back and forth too much and this amplified the thump noisefeeling. now, it is faint but same issue continues.

 

Any help is highly appreciated.

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dear friends, as a newcomer i salute you once more. I own this 99 pathfinder automatic for 1.5 year. It is 115000 miles. it is properly serviced, and i replaced shocks, front and reas suspension element (bushings at rear axle).

 

when i try to accelerate slowly, while shifting 1st to 2nd, it is little bi t harsh. This is because of auto tranny is getting older. Its ok for me i can live with it, but..

Most of the times, this harsh shifting cause a thump/clunk sound at back. I replaced worn bushings and car handles better and comfort level increased and thump feeling is less. But it is still evident. Also when i am cruising around 40 miles, and when i let the car flow on road by its own momentum, and when i step on the gas slowly, it makes a thump/clunk even it is a higher gear on tranny. Also sometimes i hear clunk noise very similar to shaft joint caused noise.

 

I went to several repairmen, one of them is a pro on transmission and LSD, other was good on shafts. none of them told me that parts were wrong and suggested me to replace bushigns at back first because as we experienced together with them, wheels were moving back and forth too much and this amplified the thump noisefeeling. now, it is faint but same issue continues.

 

Any help is highly appreciated.

 

 

Did you check out the U-joints? They can cause that type of noise when accelerating after letting off the gas.

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Did you check out the U-joints? They can cause that type of noise when accelerating after letting off the gas.

 

i am always eager to solve my problems own by own. When i visit the service guy, i was under the car too, we checked joints, seemed ok, but what to check? may be i tend to ignore some problems under car, i am not sure. Let me tell you about what i observe. When i try to turn shaft by my hand, it makes a metallic sound of loose thing at back of shaft,there were no noise at front of shaft. most probably the inside of LSD. But it may not be right inside of LSD, may be it is the just point that shafts enters to diff. than LSD guy, drove the car and told me that nothing was wrong with diff becuase, if there were a problem inside diff, it should be making a thump or similar sound each time i apply torque by reving the engine under load.

 

What to check on joints? run out? What is run our anyway? I have pathfinder service manual downloaded from nisan oficial site, it says that i need to remove joints and turn it 180 degree and fit it as usual(if it exceeds runout limts). Any comments on this? Or any other ideas to solve this thump feeling and clunk noise. What i realize is, when weather is hot , this feeling is less evident. But clunks are still there.

Edited by KLL
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If you heard a metallic noise inside the rear diff, I'd say your problem is there, regardless of what the guy told you. As a quick check, drain and refill the fluid for the rear diff, and see if you get any chunks of metal. Some (actually, very little) shavings in the fluid is normal, anything more is not.

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well, i know sound is coming from back, and i know auto tranny works fine, so i do not care what he tells me about diff and shaft.

 

related to bushings.. i only replaced 4 major bushigs on lower arms which holds axle there.Actually there are 10 bushing in total to replace when car is getting serviced. Upper small arms are still old. Reason was there were no replacement bushings at that time.

 

Can 4 pieces of small bushings cause such clunks? Thump noise can be reduced but clunk seems somethign different for me. I think i am going mad.

 

I already changed the diff oil when bushings were replaced, and old one was ok. now nothing is different.

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Alot of thunks and clunks come from the unibody design echoing in the sheet metal. Things to check are trailer hitches and receiver inserts. Loose muffler or resonator. I had a clunk like this and it was my resonator hitting the trailer hitch. Another source is looseness in the rear tracking arm used to keep the axle centered. Also check that you still have the rubber rear spring isolators intact. check the upper shock mounts to see if your going metal to metal. basicly anything hitting the chassie will echo through the body in some form of clunk in addition to all of the usual suspension bushing issues.

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Regarding the noise you hear when rotating the driveshaft at the rear diff pinion yoke:

 

A little bit of looseness is normal. It's just the gear backlash between the pinion and ring gear. Unless you hear other disturbing noises from the rear diff, don't worry about it.

 

As mentioned above, other sources of clunking could be:

• upper control arm bushings have failed, and during acceleration or braking, the axle will twist forward or backward, allowing the links to contact the body

• shocks are not securely mounted, or the collar in the shock bushing has a much larger diameter than the bolt securing it, allowing the bolt to move around within the collar (metal on metal will make the sound)

• antiswaybar links or bushings could be worn

 

If you want to verify whether your upper control arm bushings are shot, do this:

Go to a wide-open level surface (such as an empty parking lot) where you won't risk property damage.

Accelerate to 3mph, place the transmision in Neutral, and quickly pull up the parking brake (but try not to skid the tires).

Have an observer watch the rear tires as the vehicle comes to a stop.

 

If the rear tires rock back and forth after the vehicle stops, it means that the entire axle is rotating (since the parking brake is on). The only way the axle can rotate is if the upper control arm bushings have failed.

 

If you are able to rock the vehicle back and forth by hand while your observer looks under the truck at the rear differential, your observer will more easily see if the axle is rotating.

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  • 11 months later...
Regarding the noise you hear when rotating the driveshaft at the rear diff pinion yoke:

 

A little bit of looseness is normal. It's just the gear backlash between the pinion and ring gear. Unless you hear other disturbing noises from the rear diff, don't worry about it.

 

my reply is little late, thank you for detailed diagnosis methods. in last winter no time to deal with those, i think i will concentrate on fixing something on my car now.

 

 

another observation is, in these days, when it is slow and turning to left or right, it feels like back of car sways on corners.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 10 years later...
9 hours ago, SCJax2018 said:

How much backlash should one expect rotating the drive shaft?

 

 

I presume you mean driveshaft through the differential (I haven’t read this thread due to the age).  Should be very little, almost not detectable. Also presumes you’ve got the wheels held stationary (tires on ground, parking brake on). 

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21 hours ago, hawairish said:

 

I presume you mean driveshaft through the differential (I haven’t read this thread due to the age).  Should be very little, almost not detectable. Also presumes you’ve got the wheels held stationary (tires on ground, parking brake on). 

Yeah wheels on ground. Got pretty good backlash in the driveshaft where it goes into the rear differential. It has a pretty healthy clunk at times too. I can't get a straight answer out of anyone on it. One person says not to worry about it that is normal and another says that should not be. Trying to find someone to rebuild the darn thing for me and again no one will give me a straight answer.

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Best way to check the backlash is to put the trans or t-case into neutral with the park brake on or wheels chocked to prevent movement. Then turn the driveline by hand back and forth to see just how much play there really is. Should be about 1/4", but a little more is not horrible. 

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2 hours ago, SCJax2018 said:

Yeah wheels on ground. Got pretty good backlash in the driveshaft where it goes into the rear differential. It has a pretty healthy clunk at times too. I can't get a straight answer out of anyone on it. One person says not to worry about it that is normal and another says that should not be. Trying to find someone to rebuild the darn thing for me and again no one will give me a straight answer.

 

A clunk is not normal.  I mean, if you're quickly rotating to test backlash, maybe a clunk is expected, but that's far from being a useful way to check backlash.  If you do a continual rotation by hand, does it feel continuous, or does the noise occur at a point?  Marking points where you feel a clunk or hesitation may give you a clue if the ring or pinion gears are damaged (a damaged pinion may clunk every one rotation; a damaged ring may clunk every 4th rotation, etc.)

 

I'm also just realizing we spoke about this in detail via PM a few months ago.  Did you ever get the work done?  In all honesty, no one will be able to give you a straight answer until the diff is out of the truck for visual and mechanical inspection.  It's impossible to measure backlash, among other things, otherwise.  But, there are still a couple visual inspections that can be performed.

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The clunk is every once in a while when I am driving usually when I decelerate coming down off a bridge or hill. Picturing the driveshaft where it goes into the differential as a clock and with the tires on the ground. I can easily twist from 12 o clock to about half way between 1 and 2 o clock. No shavings to speak of in the lube when I changed the lube when I first got it. Lube was very nasty looking, but didn't smell burnt. The vehicle has 228K on it and I'd like to rebuild the darn thing regardless, but all I keep getting is lines of s--t and run arounds when it comes to a price.  Nissan wants $1,800 to do it and I am very temped to just go ahead and let them do it because they are the only ones who gave a straight answer so far. 

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Any decent shop should have no problem doing an inspection and rebuild on an H233 axle. They are actually quite easy to work on, but failures are also very rare since they are a very robust axle. 

 

You might want to check the transmission mount and motor mounts. A broken mount will cause noises like you are getting. Very common to have the trans mount break on a Titan and it will make a clunk. Replaced more than a few while I was working at the dealership. 

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