Kazza

Breakthrough! I got the back off the ground and ran the truck. Clear as day that it's the rear right wheel bearing. With the wheels off the ground the noise is isolated to the hub on that side. Just need to try and find someone to do the press work on the cheap for me while I wait for the parts in the mail now. Thnx guys for the help.. will keep posted with results. K

Thanks for your opinion here.. in hindsight I should have changed both wheel bearings at the same time (lesson learned). I wouldn't say it gets quieter when turning right but it definitely gets angrier when turning left. I think I'll need to pull the right axle and inspect the play / rotation in the bearing. But I guess with it off I might aswell replace it too. Edit: Quick question.. do you need to remove the abs sensor to pull a rear axle on these trucks? The FSM says to remove it because you might damage the cable... but is the sensor itself at risk? It looks like it sits away from the abs tone ring in the hub so it doesnt seem like it would be in the way I ask because it was the only thing that gave me trouble last time (snapped the retaining bolt and struggled to free the sensor from the hub). Thnx. K

I have a spare set of wheels. To save my sanity I will throw a couple on the rear quickly and drive round the block to negate the tires/wheels from the equation. There were a couple of small silvers on the rim of the magnet. I think you can see them if you zoom into the plug picture. The rest was just magnetism and wiped away. I'll follow up on the pinion rotation when I can get back under the car.. looks like it's raining heavy all day tomorrow so probably sunday. What do you mean by unbolting the diff? Cheers, K

@hawairish thnx for the reply. I've just posted again today with more details and some pics / sound clip. I did rotate the axle shaft/bearing (rear left) when it was off and it had no play or hesitation. The shop didn't give an assessment and they kept the old bearing. Also, the vibration isn't that pronounced. There's a slight vibration on the steering wheel. You can feel it on your feet sitting in the back seats more.

Latest Update: Took the car for a short drive today and threw it around corners at all sorts of speeds and angles my observations of the droning sound from the rear were as follows; 1. The drone kicks in at ~35km/h. It gets louder as the wheels turn faster but increased load (acceleration) doesn't seem to affect it much, if at all. 2. The drone gets deeper in pitch when I turn left. I do notice a change in pitch driving both directions but turning left seems deeper/more pronounced. 3. The drone is present in forward rwd, 4wd, manual 1/2 gears and in reverse. 4. Vibration kicks in at 50km/h and higher but is not that pronounced. If anyone cares to listen, I've uploaded a sound clip with the microphone sitting in the middle of the trunk between the back wheels. it starts with highway driving, comes to a stop and then speeds up again - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FzkQd-FV1c2pkMZ-9UdGZfcs_2sELLPL/view?usp=sharing Next.. I replaced the rear differential fluid. My truck has an LSD (sticker saying LSD oil only on diff and both wheels turn the same direction when one is turned). I used Castrol 80w-90 Limited Slip gear oil. When draining the old fluid I got 2.5l out. I replaced it with 2.8l of clean oil. It did not have any effect on the droning sound. My observations from this were as follows; 1. The drain plug magnet had a couple of notable metal chunks on it - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G0yfqg3FWSsa-ObpAv3rtoC56bQIlhv-/view?usp=sharing 2. When i filtered the old oil back into a container I found another couple of bits of debris, one was rubbery (left) and one was metallic (right) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G1cTVviP4CfCtVGhpp8DZGESHCaMpkfQ/view?usp=sharing 3. A comparison of the old and new oil colour - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G12gWeYmoHti_HfZsKNEB_yLoo3B3gxD/view?usp=sharing Should I be concerned with any of the above? I'm thinking next to run the vehicle in RWD with the rear wheels off the ground to see if it will help pinpoint the noise. I'm hesitant to change the rear right wheel bearing until I can try and pinpoint the noise more. Any thoughts / suggestions would be much appreciated.

So... the drivers side wheel bearing was replaced and after reassembly I still have the same drone/humming from the back of the truck. I had a friend sit in the trunk and he seems to think its more coming from the right (i previously had it in my mind coming from the left). its not hugely obvious which side its coming from but sitting in the trunk and facing forward it definitely feels the right ear is picking it up more. the droning is more pronounced when turning left. Could it be that both bearings were shot? Should I be looking for something other than wheel bearings? Potentially something to do with the gears in the bell housing? I'm tempted to do the other wheel bearing but I'm also feeling a bit stumped.. K

Thanks guys. Axle is going to the shop tomorrow morning to have everything pressed off / on. Edit: I should probably add my findings thus far to add some value to this thread for others... Upon pulling the axle from the hub, there was a thick layer of grease caked half way around the hub rim. Then, looking at the bearing on the axle it's clear that all the grease has been pushed out of the bearing onto the rim of the hub and this is what is most likely causing the rumble/droning sound.

Oh.. and I broke the bolt holding the abs plug into the hub.. it's a 12mm with number 7 marked on it. Anyone know what thread size these bolts are?

@hawairish @Mr_Reverse I've got the axle off.. now trying to remove the abs tone ring and bearing lock nut. In the FSM it doesnt give any guidance on how the tone ring is removed and it looks like the lock nut is twisted off with the special tool. Is the lock washer (and abs tone ring) threaded. You mentioned a hammer and chisel can get both these off but do I need to remove the tone ring first before doing the lock nut? The tone ring looks very fragile.. wouldn't put a chisel anywhere near it. Lock nut looks more sturdy though. Cheers, K

@Hawairish - is the nissan service tool required to remove these or is there a conventional "hack"? Also.. I seen the below video online demonstrating a rather unconventional method for removing the bearing from a toyota pick-up with a similar axle bearing setup. Based on your experience, do you think this could work? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LdUhST3aIg

So I need 4 parts then as mentioned in the link.. Wheel bearing : 43210-0W000 (or R50/D22/WD22 aftermarket equivalent) Axle lock washer : 43234-0W000 (OE Nissan) Oil seal : 43252-0W000 (or R50/D22/WD22 aftermarket equivalent) Grease seal : 43232-01G10 (or any H233B aftermarket equivalent) Do you think then it would be wiser to take the axle shaft to a mechanic with the new parts and ask them to the press and reassembly?

The tires are new, they were put on same time as the inspection mentioned and the previous owner said they noticed the noise before the tires were swapped out. Also breaking doesnt affect it. I do notice a different frequency to the humming when I'm turning.. especially at those higher speeds. I've looked at the manual. It doesnt look too bad a job.. just those specific tools that may be a pre-requisite. In terms of parts, it seems there are 3 parts needed.. the inner seal, bearing and outer seal. Has anyone had experience doing one of these?

Hi guys, just picked up a new r50 after my last one got written off (not my fault!).. the car is super clean, low mileage.. only issue is apparently the rear wheel bearing. The previous owner had a general inspection done by mechanic after the car was off the road for a while and they diagnosed it on the invoice as "rear wheel bearing?". The question mark assuming they didnt really look much into it. Anyway it's an evident humming noise coming from the rear left wheel, kicks in at around 20/30. It gets louder and the car vibrates at high speeds. I'm familiar with the front wheel bearings being a common thing to go on r50s but I cant seem to find much material on rear wheel bearing issues or guidance on DIY replacement. Can anyone steer me in the right direction? Could it be something other than the wheel bearing perhaps? Cheers, K

The SECU is connected to about 15/20 different functions in the car. There are 3 plugs. My plan is to do as you hinted at - unplug each plug one at a time to disable different functions and see if the fuse blows. If it doesn't this will narrow me down to 4/5 functions and I can divide and conquer from there. I will probably need to pull specific pins on one plug though as it houses the ground and the wire to the fuse in question. Will provide an update.

Hi Mr_Reverse.. Firstly to answer your questions, it seems to blow the fuse while sitting, not driving. And no additions to the car that I know of. I have since had a look at the three connectors going into the SECU and noticed damage/melting of pins no. 49 and 50 on connector M123. Pin 49 goes directly to fuse no. 24 (the one that's blowing) and pin 50 is the battery saver for interior lamps which is connected to the circuits of all the interior lighting and the door switches. These two wires looked to almost be fused together near the SECU connector so i carefully separated them and re-insulated them separately. The fuse is still blowing. Would this possibly narrow the problem area down at all? Perhaps it's the SECU since the wire going to the fuse melted? ...Or maybe the damage to the wire itself is causing the short? .....Or the issue is with the interior lamp / door switch circuit due to the damage on the battery saver wire? Its hard to say which wire fused to which... Thanks in advance for anymore input. Regards, K

Hi guys, I have a problem whereby Fuse No. 24 (7.5a) labelled "ELEC B" is repeatedly blowing. I have studied the Electrical section of the Service Manual for the car and I know that this fuse protects many different circuits and most of them also interact with the Smart Entrance Control Unit. Now before I go on a wild goose chase.. I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas on the best place to start or things to try before I need to go chasing down all the circuits to find a short? Here are some observations; The fuse oddly seems to blow every 48 hours or so.. it seems relatively consistent. The circuits which are also connected through the ignition switch do operate again when the key is in ignition and turned to ACC or ON e.g. power locks I have not managed to locate what circuit is causing the fuse to blow by operating them.. e.g. headlamps, interior lights, power locks etc. I'm not sure if its a particular circuit on the fuse or the SECU itself thats to blame... any help to get me started would be most appreciated. Cheers! K

Hi guys, been having a bunch of problems with my power windows and door locks. Narrowed most things down to faulty master power window switch but whomever was in the doorcard before me also rewired the whole harness up wrong to the switch and I've had to rewire the 2 plugs going into the switch itself. I noticed, however; that i am missing pins for the illumination which lights up the power window/ lock buttons in the dark - pins 16 and 18. Looking at the fsm there should be pink wires coming from the harness representing + / - that connect to the wider illumination circuit. I've cut back the harness a bit and can't see them in there. The fsm also doesn't seem to represent the path of these wires on the power window / door lock or illumination wiring diagrams oddly enough (unless I'm missing something). Anybody got any clues on this? I looked at passenger side and and it has the pink wires running from the plug through the harness. I'm not sure if either my harness is missing wires or these 2 illumination wires splice into some other wires in the harness. Perhaps someone else can take a peek at their harness for me n see where pins 16 and 18 are going? Cheers, K

Couldn't agree more. So I guess I need to check the voltage across the ground side of the circuit at each point now...

Latest update... After switching the wiring for terminals 1 and 2 (high and low beam) on the LH bulb socket, the correct filament is now lighting up in the LH bulb for both high and low beam settings BUT when I have my high beams on the LH bulb filament is not producing the same light output as the RH filament. Re-testing light switch positions has the following; Switch OFF or Sidelights (DRL Mode) - LH lowbeam low power / RH highbeam low power Auto or Lowbeam on - LH lowbeam full power / RH lowbeam full power Highbeam on - LH highbeam mid power*** / RH highbeam full power. *** note that in this setting LH highbeam is producing a higher output than in DRL mode but not the same full power output as the RH highbeam. So I still have a problem... can anyone chime in on this? Every setting on the combination light switch works but the LH highbeam filament is producing a lower brightness when highbeam is switched on. I have swapped the bulbs around again and bulbs are OK. Perhaps the jerry rigged ground mentioned in previous post was put in to compensate for poor grounding and a lower output in the bulb on the drivers side?

Spoke too soon - after putting everything back and fully testing all the light positions against a wall with the engine running I noticed that the LH bulb was not as bright at the the RH bulb. I then noticed that actually the opposite filaments were lighting up in either bulb at each switch position! It then occurred to me... the person that replaced the LH bulb socket has wired up low and high beam terminals incorrectly, they have been swapped round. I should have noticed this when checking continuity during my troubleshooting but I was distracted by the weird readings described in my original post and totally overlooked that i actually had terminals 1 and 2 mixed up on the bulb socket based on the FSM diagram. My testing had.. Switch OFF or Sidelights (DRL Mode) - LH lowbeam half power / RH highbeam half power Auto or Lowbeam on - LH highbeam half power/ RH lowbeam full power Highbeam on - LH lowbeam full / RH highbeam full I guess I need to rewire this plug back round to the correct layout. What a nightmare this has been.. I thought I was useless with electrics!

OK - so it looks like I have solved the problem. Upon closer inspection of the wiring harness coming out of the LH bulb socket I noticed there had been some jiggery pokery on it. After peeling back the electrical tape its pretty obvious the bulb socket had been replaced. The original wiring had been soldered to new wires leading to the socket about an inch out of the socket itself. Strangely a random 3 inch ground wire had been spliced into the LH high beam wire and was grounding directly under big black air intake box holding the air filter. I accidentally ripped this wire from its grounding point and then just figured i do the continuity test again with it disconnected and the LH high beam terminal was now only showing continuity to the correct terminal on the DRL. So then i hooked everything back up (minus the jerry rigged ground wire) and hey presto... LH highbeam works again! My guess is this modification was done in an attempt to solve issues that were actually related to the DRL module being faulty.

Hi guys - not very electrically inclined and looking for some help diagnosing my non-functioning LH (driver side) highbeam. Things I've already checked: Bulbs - Highbeam filaments are fine on both bulbs. Switched them round to confirm this. Headlamp relays - Tested OK Headlamp Fuses - Not tested but based on the wiring diagram if one of these were blown the headlamp would not operate at all in high or low so I assume this is not the problem. DRL module - I believe this is fine.. I had issues with low beams and DRL mode previously so I took the module apart and re-soldered all the suspect connections. This fixed all issues apart from LH highbeam. I also tried another DRL module from the scrapyard and it gave me full functionality apart from LH highbeam. Small chance both DRL's have the exact same issue! Combination Light Switch - I checked the connections on the switch and was getting continuity across the correct pins relative to the position of the switch/stick in all cases. So this seems fine. Now I've been testing continuity in the wiring harnesses. Upon testing the DRL to light switch I'm getting continuity at the correct terminals for LH Highbeam. However, upon testing the bulb socket to the DRL I seem to be getting continuity at a number of different terminals which seems very odd in my limited knowledge/experience of circuitry. Referring to the illustration HERE.. I am getting continuity at LH bulb socket terminal 1 (highbeam) to DRL terminal 10.. this is what I expect. However, I am also getting continuity from LH bulb socket terminal 1 to DRL terminals 12, 15, 16 and 17. I have studied the headlight operational guide a few pages back in the FSM and it doesn't seem to make sense for all these wires to be connected. So out of interest I checked RH bulb socket terminal 1 (highbeam) and it registers continuity only at DRL terminal 9 which is the correct path of the wire. So... my current diagnosis is that I have a number of wires in the harness going from the LH bulb socket to the DRL module that are interconnecting when they shouldn't be and this is causing non-function of the LH highbeam somehow when the circuit is live (voltage applied). Can somebody with better electrical knowledge than me tell me if I'm barking up the right tree here and what would you recommend as next steps?

Lots of help @Mr_Reverse thanks a bunch. I've already put the wheels back on so didn't get a chance to inspect the CV's visually. The car doesn't make any noises or give weird feedback at full lock though. Well I guess I'm going to crack on with replacing the rotors, pads and servicing the calipers and wheel bearings as per your instructions above. I'm in Canada, can't find any of the loaded caliper kits online. I think I'll just go with the rotor/pad kit. My budget isn't very high. I'm between the Powerstop KOE2279 and the EBC S1KF1313, can't decide, they are in the same price range. Any thoughts here? Otherwise, yes I will hit you up if I run into any snags. Thnx again!

Whats the process for checking if the wheel bearing is good? I have a guide on disassembling the hub / rotors but keen to hold off on this until I order the new pads (and potentially rotors). Edit: There is no play in the rotors when yanking on them. The drivers side rotor does have a very "grainy" sound when turning it compared to the passenger side which is relatively quiet. Both are hard to turn (don't turn freely) probably cause the car is in Park though. K

No they are the same size.