Noise coming from driver side of the car

[Kmk2zf]

While driving home from school this weekend, I started to hear a thumping coming from somewhere under the driver side of my Pathfinder. At first I thought it was coming from the rear driver side wheel area, but then I thought I felt it coming from underneath me.

 

The noise is a repeating thumping type noise, if I had to describe it I would say it sounds like a few lug nuts were missing and the wheel was moving back and forth hitting something, but it doesn't really have a distinct metal to metal contact sound because its kind of a low tone. It almost sounds like when you roll one window down half way on the highway and the fast wind makes that annoying noise.

 

When it first started I thought it was coming from the wheel well, or maybe it was my exhaust that came loose and is now vibrating. But then when I started to apply the brake it felt like the brakes were slipping/skipping.

 

Does anybody have any ideas to what it could be? or are there any common problem areas that I should specifically look at? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I haven't had a chance to look at it but I will update on what I see, Ill also have my brother-in-law look at it.

[sewebster]

Last time I had this sort of noise it was a piece of a branch stuck in my front u-joint. Lots of possibilities though

[adamzan]

Does it do it when driving all the time or just over bumps/rough roads? I would check your struts/strutmounts, swaybar links and bushings, ball joints, brakes and what not.

 

Jack it up and make sure everything is tight under there.

[devonianwalk]

Mine had a sort of clunking sound in the same area that you are describing. I ended up replacing the wheel bearings and a bad TRE and the noise stopped. I replaced both at the same time so I can't tell you which was the culprit though.

[Kmk2zf]

I had my brother in law go for a ride with me and he seems to think that its the wheel bearing that is going out. I got a letter from Nissan this week saying that my vehicle qualified for the recall so I guess I will be getting that fixed along with the recall.

[Kmk2zf]

So I took the Pathy to the dealership today to see what exactly was wrong with it. Told them that it was making noise and that I thought it might have been the wheel bearing. The mechanic took it out for a drive to see if he could figure it out, and he came back and decided that it the fluids in the back probably just needed to be flushed. He said that in the 9 years hes been working for Nissan that he has only seen one pathfinder with a worn out wheel bearing, and that they don't even repair thing in the rear differential/axle, and that I would have to go to a specialty or high performance repair shop in order to get it fixed.

 

So in two weeks i should be able to determine if it was just the fluids that needed to be flushed or if it was actually the wheel bearing.

[Radwaste]

Don't forget to come back and let us know.

[Kmk2zf]

Its been about a week of driving and I still periodically hear the noise. I now noticed that I also feel it in the break pedal when pressing on the break. Im beginning to think that it has something to do with my ABS since it feels similar to when I slam on the breaks and ABS kicks in. Does anyone know if ABS kicks in one wheel at a time or all four wheels at the same time?

[jj big shoe]

ABS will "pump" the brakes on each wheel when the sensor detects the wheel has stopped (indicating that it's sliding). My Corolla's front wheel will jitter when on the brakes and I hit a bump. The wheel stops enough to make the sensor think the wheel is sliding and therefore pumps the brake caliper rapidly for a second or two.