kano

Bought a 2012 370z in late April, I noticed a clunking noise when going from reverse to forward, and sometimes when stopped to forward, I assumed it was the brake pads rattling in the calipers. Its been annoying me a little so I decided to investigate by removing the wheel and seeing if anything was loose.

Here's a brief video I took:

Is this normal? I was surprised by the amount of slack in the drive train and the pretty loud clunk when the hub was rotated. That's just one hand, so you can imagine the clunk with the force of setting off. It seems to be doing this both sides. Never had this issue with my 350z which I had for 10 years!

Is this the clicky/clunking axle issue, which can be fixed by lubricating and retorqing the hub nut? Tomorrow I might have a go so see if this helps, but just use a bit of lithium grease I have handy.

I grabbed the driveshaft and there was only a few mm of lateral (in/out) play in it which I suspect is about right.

My car's done 89k on the original shocks. How do you know if they're gone? The back feels crap but then again my W brace has completely rotted through..

Another question, The w brace to stay bracket bolt size, these are the 6 easily sheared bolts with a 12mm head. What sized bolts are these? They have a "7" on the head but I'm not sure this refers to an M7 bolt. On ebay M7 flanged bolts seem pretty few and far between, shed loads of M6 and M8 though.

 

Also I've seen people ask if you can do without the W brace. Well it seems you can, as mine has pretty much rotted through totally on one side and isn't providing any support what so ever!

I really should do more research before asking questions. So the 7 refers to the grade of the bolt, not size 7T is equivalent of 8.8 apparently. FSM says a torque spec of 25-29nm, so looking at the general information / standard bold torque table and working backwards, this is an M8 bolt. The pitch is anyone's guess though!

Another question, The w brace to stay bracket bolt size, these are the 6 easily sheared bolts with a 12mm head. What sized bolts are these? They have a "7" on the head but I'm not sure this refers to an M7 bolt. On ebay M7 flanged bolts seem pretty few and far between, shed loads of M6 and M8 though.

Also I've seen people ask if you can do without the W brace. Well it seems you can, as mine has pretty much rotted through totally on one side and isn't providing any support what so ever!

Here's a question. When changing the stay brackets do you have to support the subframe in any way or can you just remove the large nut and two bolts and change each bracket in turn? I'd guess you don't need to support it as it'd be held in at 3 of the 4 corners, best check eh!

Brackets were nasty on mine too when the W brace was replaced, did them at the same time.

Just looking at sourcing some new ones now.. zmanalex is the man!

Just tried to change my W brace and had severe problems getting the small 12mm bolts out that screw into the stay bracket assemblies. One bolt sheared off and at this point I thought I better have a rethink. I reckon I might need to change the stay brackets too? Here's some pics, you can see how bad they are! And my sheared off bolt..

I can't even get the socket on it to turn it!

When I did mine I had to buy some of those ratchet spanners, made the job a lot easier as there's not a lot of room down there..

A few months ago I randomly tried holding it in the up position for a few seconds, and it skipped to the next track. I haven't tried since so I don't know if it works every time, but worth trying out.

 

I'll try after work and see if it works for me again and will let you know.

Thanks!

I RTFM a few mins back, I don't know about your head unit but mine can be configured apparently1

Steering Control Selects the input mode for the connected remote control. To prevent a malfunction, be sure to match the input mode with the connected remote control before use. Custom Input mode for the steering wheel remote control (Automatically selected when [user Defined] is complete.). Preset Input mode for the wired remote control excluding the steering wheel remote control. User Defined The steering button panel appears. î  Press and hold the button you want to assign to the steering wheel. The button on the panel lights up (standby). î¡ Press and hold the button on the steering wheel you want to assign the function to. The button on the panel changes to blue (registration complete). î¢ To register other functions, repeat steps î  and î¡. (Available only when [steering Control] is set to [Custom].) Notes î While making settings, only button operation on the unit is available. For safety, park your car before making this setting. î If an error occurs while registering, all the registered information is cleared. Restart registration from the beginning. î This function may not be available on some vehicles. For details on the compatibility of your vehicle, visit the support site on the back cover.

I've just installed a Sony head unit and am having a similar issue - previous track works fine but next track doesn't do anything. Pretty annoying!

Long time ago Kano I know, but did you ever find out what was making the noise?

Yes mate, its was just a wheel bearing!

The reason why it was so hard to diagnose was because the noise was coming from the rear passenger side, but it was actually the rear drivers side bearing that had gone. There wasn't any play in the bearing either. I took the wheel and pads off, then as soon as I turned the disk it became obvious the bearing was shot. With the pads rubbing against the disk masked a grinding noise.

I got a full replacement hub and bearing from Febest for quite cheap, got my local garage to press them together for £10, it then becomes a fairly straightforward advanced DIY job.

I got a couple of Febest rear hubs - look pretty good quality. Should be ok for the combined front bearing/hub too and pretty cheap.

I had this - caused by a build up of carbon brush debris inside the window motor. That's why whacking it fixes it - it moves the gunk off the contacts.

Took a couple of hours max to fix, not a difficult job at all, defo a DIY job. Just get the motor out, then open up the motor (couple of screws) then give everything a good clean. A light sanding afterwards on the contacts to get them nice and shiny then its good as new.

There's a DIY guide somewhere for this...

Something sounds on its way out there mate, either the release bearing or flywheel. I'm not sure.

This is my clutch noise, fixed after replacing the clutch, flywheel and release bearing. If you're doing any sort of work on the clutch its worth doing everything in my opinion, the parts are reasonably cheap, its the labour in dropping the gearbox which is the killer.

The angles for the prop and drive shaft are already kaput with so much movement.

 

If the front bushing bolts are loose then tighten them up .

 

If they are tight then you will have to replace the bushings.

Thanks for your reply mate. I'll get the car on jack stands tomorrow and will see if they will tighten.

There should be no movement on the front or rear diff bushings as you have described.

 

I am surprised that you are not getting a clunk when accelerating or de accelerating.

 

I would not rule out that the bushing issue may be contributing to your hum, but I have not read your other thread.

 

Alex.

Cheers. Do you think it'd be ok for me to tighten the front diff bolts to take up the slack in the tired bushings? Could that knacker the prop shaft/pinion angle?

I've been having a problem with a humming/droning noise coming from the nearside rear for a while now. See this thread: http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/91282-hummingdroning-noise-from-rear/

Today I went under the car and had a really good look. One thing that stood out was the differential had play in the front bushes. I could move the diff 3-4mm on one of them. The rubber washers which are part of the bushes could be easily rotated.

I took the car to a local garage for their opinion on the worn bushes, the guy said he didn't think that they would cause the humming noise. Is he right?

If I were to loosen the front diff bolts do you think they could be tightened to get rid of the play in them?

I don't want to replace the bushes as I might as well buy a replacement diff and whack that on instead.

Cheers fellas

Where's the click coming from, the rear? Possibly clicky drive shafts?

A knock from the front is usually the banana arm, a common fault. But a squeak - not sure. Sounds like a bush or a worn shock. You could try blasting all the bushes with WD40 until you find the one that causes the problem..

But I think your best bet is to get it into a garage who knows what they are doing. If you go to a main dealer they will probably insist on replacing with genuine nissan parts which are £££. You can buy cheap 3rd party banana arms for about £90-100 nowadays.

Have you checked the prop shaft center bearing, and the main diff input shaft bearing?

Nope. Would one of these bearings being tired cause a noise just on the passenger side?

Thanks for the suggestion, interesting..

Just changed the drive shaft for a 2nd hand one from ebay. Noise is still there! So far I've:

Changed the drive shaft

Changed the wheel bearing and hub

Changed the discs and pads

Changed the diff and gearbox fluids with the correct nissan ones

Changed the ARB drop links

Had a full 4 wheel laser alignment

Ruled out tyres/balancing by swapping all 4 wheels with a spare set I have.

Anyone have any other ideas/avenues for investigation? I'm stumped!

I had this. All I did was turn the belt in the plastic hanger thing at the top of the belt near your shoulder. It'd been the wrong way round for years, since I got the car.

The main reason why you depress the clutch on starting is to take some load off the starter motor. If you remove the clutch switch you could end up with starting issues.

Mine had a similar issue, it turned out the belt was actually twisted. Compare your belt with the passenger side.

I've tried loading up each side by swerving, doesn't really make much difference to the noise. I've also but the car in neutral at 70mph and that doesn't make any difference either, so that sort of rules out wheel bearings, gearbox, exhaust. Diffs are supposed to be fairly bulletproof aren't they? When I changed the diff oil the old stuff came out of the fill hole initially so it's always had plenty of oil.

PlusGas is brilliant for stubborn fasteners. I wouldn't start a job without it:

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/car-maintenance-accessories/maintenance-fluids-and-greases/penetrating-fluids/?549774741&0&