adeste

I have been having this problem for the past month on my 97 manual maxima SE, when every time I take my foot off the gas I hear this really loud cyclical knocking/clunking sound from what seems like somewhere under the hood. Additionally, I can feel the vibrations that this noise is creating on the shifter and in the floor. The frequency and volume of the noise increases as your speed increases, but not necessarily as RPM increases. The noise occurs no matter what the temperature of the engine is (either hot or cold) however temperature does affect the loudness of it and the conditions that produce the noise:

Cold engine: Noise occurs no matter what speed you are traveling and whether you are accelerating or not, and happens even when the car is in neutral or with the clutch pedal pushed in.

Hot engine: Noise can be heard at speeds greater than 20mph when accelerating and are very noticeable at speeds greater than 40mph when accelerating. The noise will stop with the clutch pedal in or when traveling at a constant speed.

Other than the noise, the car functions well. I do not have any noticeable problems with power, shifting, gear slippage, etc.

So far I have parked the car opened the hood and pulled the throttle cable in order to try to reproduce the noise, but this will not do it. The noise only happens when I am driving the car. Therefore, I do not think that the noise is engine related.

If you have any suggestions about where the possible source of the noise is, can you give me advice on how to verify it (where to look, how to test, etc.)


EDIT: I replaced the transmission, which eliminated the noise and solved my problem

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like CV joints that are ready to grenade. How are the boots on them?

adeste

They look intact. When I turn the car however, it does not make the typical banging/cracking noise associated with bad CV joints.

The boots that are connected to both tie rods are torn though.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

That's drive line noise. Bad CV or maybe the carrier bearing is shot.

adeste

How could I verify if it was the CV or the carrier bearing? If it is the carrier bearing, how would I replace it? How difficult is the job?

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

You've got the get the car up on a lift, brake torque it to get a load on the drive line and listen from underneath. Time to get it to a shop.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

So it does not make the noise in the video when making a turn?

When CVs get really bad they make the same noise whether driving straight or turning.

It is possible that someone put new boots on bad joints, or it could be the input shaft our differential bearings.

Some diagnosis is in order.

adeste

There is no knock or crack sound when turning the vehicle. In the past I had CV joints go bad and when they did there would always be a metal cracking sound when making a tight turn. Currently however, there is no noise like that.

What would I have to do to confirm this?

Also, why would the sound get much louder when I take my foot off the gas?

Quickywd01

iTrader: (16)

Constant velocity half shaft joint or out of balance wheel/tire. A wheel bearing would sound worse. Are your lug nuts tight? That would cause that to happen as well.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Ok, I just listened to the full clip on my PC. It is dependent on wheel speed, not RPM, so it's NOT the input shaft. It has to be diff bearing, passenger side axle support bearing, wheel bearing, brake rotor cracked, wheel out of round, or tire.

It sounds like a metal on metal knock, so tire and wheel are unlikely. It also doesn't sound like any wheel bearing Ive ever heard.

It is too deep a knock for CV joint.

I think it is a Diff bearing, axle support, or cracked rotor (Ive seen rotors with a 3/16 gap that would make noise when swept by the pads).

It needs to go in the air at a reputable shop or someone you know that really knows there stuff.

I know this sounds stupid (no offense Quickywd01) but it has happened to my dad, he saved a lot of money on a truck purchase because of this. Although with hub-centric wheels it wouldn't likely be audible, and you would here five knocks with each revolution I would think.

adeste

I took it to a mechanic shop. They said they drove it around and determined from the location of the sound that my car needed a new transmission.

It seemed like the mechanic didn't spent a lot of time on diagnosing it and just took a guess, so I am a little skeptical about his conclusion. Anyway, my friend and I are going to put the car up on jacks and take a look ourselves tomorrow. Hopefully we can figure it out.

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

I doubt if it's that!

Quickywd01

iTrader: (16)

It probably needs a new windshield and muffler bearings. Maybe you're low on blinker fluid too. Make sure you replace the transmission with a CVT, you know, the good stuff.

JoshG

lol ^

CMax03

iTrader: (3)

LCA is my quess especially during decel....Have you inspected your chassis for the fault?

adeste

So last week I lifted the front end up on jack stands to let the wheels freely spin when I put the car in gear while it was running. Sure enough the noise was coming from inside the transmission .

With that I decided to go ahead and replace it, so I went and bought a used transmission from a warehouse, who I guess got it from a junkyard. Cost me $350, so not too bad. A friend and I finished putting it in yesterday and the job was not too bad.

Now I just have to fill it with gear oil. I called everyplace that I could think of and nobody has GL-4 gear oil. I found the amsoil and redline GL-4 online, but it was like $15/quart and I have to wait for it to get shipped to me. Then I found that Advanced Auto Parts sells Royal Purple Max-Gear 75W90 gear oil that can be used in either GL-4 or GL-5 applications. I looked on their website and found that this specific mix of their gear oil does not have the additives that cause soft metal corrosion.http://www.royalpurpleconsumer.com/products/max-gear/

Does anyone have any experience with this type of gear oil?

Chad_m

Check this out before you replace that transmission:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...2112017AAZiEno

I guess I posted that late... I hope that fixes your problem.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Why take a chance on screwing up all your synchros on the second most expensive part of the car? GL4 only. Wait a couple of days for the shipping.

Also, if you haven't replaced the tranny yet and you can return the one you just bought, have your mechanic remove and re-install the axles. I saw a thread here where a guy had a similar issue. I had the same issue and replaced the tranny in my sentra

adeste

Those would have been good tests to do, but I do not think that it was a problem with the CV joints. When I was pulling the CV joints out of the transmission they were a huge pain to get out because they were in there tight, no play or wiggle to them. When I did finally get them out there was nothing visually wrong with them (no torn boots, no damage to the splines, etc.).

As soon as I get some gear oil we will find out if replacing the transmission fixed the problem.

CS_AR

I have used Napa Sta-lube GL4 on my 1st 95 Maxima because I could easily get it locally. It actually corrected a shifting problem (from 2nd to 3rd) that was occurring when I purchased the car.

Today I use Redline MT90 GL4 on the 99 Max 5MT.

I've been using the RP gear oil you posted for the viscous coupling rear-end on my Q45 for years -- but that is a whole different animal and I would not use it in the Maxima.

adeste

I went ahead and bought the Redline MT90 GL4 online and it will get here Saturday. I will give an update after I put it in.

JackNickson

I just picked up my second maxima this time it's a stock 5 speed. The only thing wrong with it is right CV axle and left tie rod. I have no idea where to get parts locally because I live in a small town.

Are these to be trusted?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Front-Oute...9b4d05&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Front-Inne...acb550&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cardone-Sele...85cf12&vxp=mtr

adeste

I put the new oil in the tranny and went to start up the car and it wouldn't start. I looked up in the other threads to see if people had a similar problem and saw that comments about needing to clean the mating surfaces between the tranny and engine. I didn't see that step in the write up so it was not something that I did…

I saw suggestions for circumventing the problem, which included fixing a ground wire from the negative terminal on the battery to the tranny. Another suggestion was to run a wire from the tranny bell housing to the engine. What gauge wire would I need? I tried doing it with a thin wire, but it did not work. Maybe I need a thicker wire?

Chad_m

If you used a small gauge wire and it didn't work, that's probably not your problem. I would double check the crankshaft sensor and other plugs. I made that mistake when I changed my clutch.

adeste

I just put in a 4 gauge wire from the neg terminal to the tranny and no improvement. I also checked the crankshaft position sensor and it is firmly plugged in.

I when I start the car I can smell the gas and see that the car reaches about 1k rpm while turning over with 2 ground wires and 1.5k rpm with 1 ground wire. Without a ground between the neg terminal and tranny the rpms when turning over are at 2k

Fakie J Farkerton

iTrader: (51)

Double check the CSPS on the transmission.
I may not have fully seated.

adeste

I have unplugged it and plugged it back in many times, also there is no error code that is being thrown out from it so I don't think that the CPS is bad.

Chad_m

You should be more specific about what your car is doing. You initially said it won't start, I took that as the car isn't doing anything. When you turn the key, what exactly happens?

adeste

The car will turn over, but wont start. The engine kind of sputters like it is trying to start, but it wont. I was looking through some of the other threads and found this video of a guy's car that is doing the same thing as mine:

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=684572394583

Adding ground wires from the neg terminal to the tranny definitely makes a difference in how the car sounds when it starts. I don't know though if adding the ground wires is an improvement or making the situation worse.

CS_AR

Did you try holding the accelerator all the way to the floor to clear a flooding problem while trying to start it? Mine would get flooded after major work when it doesn't start up right away.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

The wire should be between the tranny and the engine.

Chad_m

What he did is fine. It all does the same thing. It all goes back the batteries negative. What he did is actually better. If there is only a wire from tranny to engine then the power must travel further to complete the circuit.

Chad_m

First, I would try what CS said. Hold the gas peddle down to the floor and try to start it to clear any flooding. After that, it's time to start troubleshooting. Your car is either not getting air, fuel, or spark. And it sounds like it is getting some, just not adequate amount therefore, my vote is fuel.


Another worse option is that your flywheel was installed improperly and the engine is having trouble keeping it spinning.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

What he did is duplicate the existing connection from the battery to the starter.

Chad_m

No, it's not. The whole point behind cleaning the surface of the transmission is to allow it to share the ground from the block. All grounds go the same place; the negative terminal on the battery. That's how a DC circuit works. If you ground the battery to the frame, the frame essentially becomes a jumper to the negative battery terminal. Then you can ground everything to the frame to avoid having 1000 wires running to the battery terminal.


If you don't believe me, try it. If anything, what he did should give the transmission a better ground.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

You are confused my friend. Let me show you the way........

Exactly. Now that the surfaces have NOT been cleaned, all the ground points on the engine block go through where? They go through the body. What does that mean? ALOT of electrical resistance. That means the circuits on the engine block will not be getting enough current to operate properly. So all the engine block circuits, O2 sensors, TPS, CKPS etc, are not getting enough power.
This is true. So then all we need is one ground for the entire car, correct?
Explain to me why is it that cars, like this maxima, has many ground points then? There's like a hundred of them.

I'll tell you why: different circuits need different resistances because of the current they need to do their job. The starter needs WAY more current than say, the fuel injector. The many ground points provide different resistances so that different circuits get enough current. They get enough power.

Because the Nissan engineers anticipated needing a large surface area like the mating surfaces between the engine and tranny, that translates to needing a large ground point there. A large ground point means an electrical path with like 0 resistance. It also means path to carry a large current. So, since the surfaces between the engine and tranny have not been cleaned, a substitute, like a 0 gage cable between the engine and tranny, would do the trick.

See?

Since the OP already has 4 gage, try using it and see how it goes. If that's not good enough, get some zero gage cable.

Chad_m

It is impossible to argue with someone who has made up their mind that you are wrong. First off, electrical resistance comes into play before the ground. It is the same way with a subwoofer. You never hear anyone say, "It's a dual 4 ohm sub, plus the resistance of your ground wire." The ground wire does not add impedance in the manner which you speak. You have no idea what you are talking about. Stop spewing your ignorance all over the internet.


The car has a lot of ground locations because every time an object needs power, it also needs a ground. So you can choose, run a wire to the battery, or mount it to the frame. And yes, you could do with just one ground. But that is not the most productive (or cheapest) way to do it. There are also multiple grounds to protect circuits in the event of a short. Electricity takes the quickest path to ground.


And that's all I'm going to say about this. I'm not going to argue. I do however urge anyone reading this to fact check anything that knuckle head says.

adeste

So far I have used a 2 gauge wire, 4 gauge wire and jumper cables all together as grounds with no success. On the bright side, I went and push started my car to get it going and it worked. I drove it around and noticed that the new tranny fixed the original problem with the knocking sound.

It does not seem like the ground wires are working, so I do not know if it is because I am not using a thick enough wire or if I my problem is even grounding related. The only thing left to try in my opinion is to take the tranny out and clean the mating surfaces just to finally rule that out.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Where did you put the new ground cables?

adroitcaptor

Adeste:
- I would encourage you to search the forums for your new issue. Either way, giving more information, and please be specific, about the starting troubles would be good.

- 4ga is sufficient for this ground to test or otherwise. Assuming you have less than 6' of 4ga wire you can carry in excess of 200 amps.

- To clarify the mating surface issue, the reason the trans-eng surface is used is to reduce the number of grounding wires needed. (Look up the price of a 4ga or 6ga spool of copper strand wire and then think of how many cars Nissan builds [math should ensue].)


Dwapenyi - Chad_m is correct, the body offers sufficient ground and carries no legitimate resistance. I can explain further if you would like but best not to muck up this thread with a debate.

We are all here [or should be] to help and encourage one another in a common hobby/passion/etc. Let us try and remember that before an argument gets personal or is reduced to name calling. (This type of digression is why I have left more than once and do not often post.)

Now my phone is acting up so I cannot edit this post... so annoying. Sorry for any grammatical atrocities.