FIXED: Rear axle click clunk noise

JARblue

The reason I was looking for a TSB is because the dealer is looking for any excuse to not do this work. No TSB means no warranty coverage and would explain the response I got from them.

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juld0zer

hmmm i reckon if you have the time, tools and confidence to do it then do it yourself. then you dont have to worry about all the what-if's that come after a dealer visit. eg. what if they rattle gunned the big nut on? or what if they didnt replace the single use items?

to this day i still struggle to understand how some moly grease applied to the flat mating face can magically cure this clicking noise that occurs whenever the axles are loaded/unloaded - which is clearly a rotational impact related noise. for the TSB to make sense in theory, the flat surfaces of the axle and the hub must be moving in and out on each application of the gas pedal (or side to side depending how you see it). It would make more sense if the instruction was to apply grease to the splines, but again for the splines to make that much noise there would have to be a huge amount of wear/misfit.

im no engineer but IMO the torque spec for the nut is way too low.

i believe that due to the sloppy design (pardon the pun), the constant loading and unloading of the axles particularly in forward motion creates an impact-gun like effect which breaks the nut loose. The only thing stopping the nut backing off completely is the soft cotter pin. Some models have an adjusting cap which resembles a large beer cap that goes over the nut and the cotter pin is driven thru the castellated slots of the cap. The cap is made of soft metal, not much stronger than the metal on your fridge door. The constant impact-gun like effect wears down the soft castellated slots which were once snug because the cotter pin was driven between them, holding the cap in place. Once the slots are worn, the cap becomes loose, as does the pin and the nut beneath. When the clicking noise re-emerges, the percussion from the nut to pin to cap makes the noise worse and slightly more metallic. This is why it begins as a dull clonk then becomes a full on metallic click with more distance accumulating. Nissan's choice of using a 'spring washer' IMO is also flawed. Its name implies it serves a springing function, which suggests it is promoting or at least allowing some lateral movement of the axle shaft inside the hub. This 'spring washer' is best described as a domed washer. It is not flat. Other manufacturers either have no washer or a conventional flat washer betwen hub and nut.

With further research on the applications of the nut fitted to our cars, i learnt that the torque spec is different on other vehicles (or even model years in the case of our 370z line). Therefore i concluded that it is safe to torque the nut up more than the FSM specification. Some people may have success with that alone. It didnt work for me but i've now been click-free for a long time and i'm glad i got to the bottom of it.

Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands because nothing anyone else does will satisfy you after all that you've been thru. the dealer might just go bonkers with the rattle gun and hand the keys back, charge you for regreasing the axles and you'll be pissed in a few months when it comes back

JARblue

My hope was to get the dealer to regrease under the TSB at no charge to me. I don't mind doing the work, but I just don't have the time to DIY it right now. I already have the castle nut and extra spring washers and cotter pins I can install myself. Can I just do those without regreasing the axles?

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juld0zer

it can be done but it's one of those 'you might aswell do it' things. Do it right the first time around. the FSM does specify greasing the mating face when replacing axles.

if you dont want to take the axles out, you can remove the big nut and push the axle out as far as it will go then use a brush or similar tool to apply the grease. it's very fiddly due to space constraints and u cannot clean out the existing crud and corrosion unless you remove the axles.

set aside an afternoon and that should be enough time

JARblue

This is exactly what I figured Maybe in November I will have an afternoon to work on it. I'm half tempted to replace the CV joints completely.

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juld0zer

i wished we had that much Z support here in Australia.

RBfastback

it's my day off so I figured I'd just go to my dealer in fort Myers an see what they say before I do it myself an let u know.

walked in gave them the run down on what's going on an that there is a tsb on it, he said absolutely but it isn't free... I said o it's not covered under the 5/60 drive train because everyone else I know (on the forum) says there dealer did it for free?
then he said o well as long as u still have ur 5/60 then it's free.

I'm in the waiting room now while the look at it..

JARblue

I will be interested in what they have to say

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RBfastback

ok so after 1 hour they handed my keys back and said that they went ahead and just did it..
$0 cash spent.
I didn't even have an app.
I was pretty surprised

Bhaukei

OKAY, LISTEN GUYS. i have the same problem about the clicking noise on my 2010 40th Z, i took it to the dealership, they fixed it, cost is 130 dollars (Im in canada). So it is both Axle/hub/bearing needs lubrication. And yes They said this is a TSB only for 3 years 60000km, if not , then thats a maintenance. A lot saying the noise might come back, but still i give the dealership a shot, hopefully it won't come back.

DON'T LET ANY OTHER MEMBER FOOL YOU, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CALIPER, TRANSMISSION AND WHATEVER THEY SAID. IF YOU HEAR CLICKING WHEN YOU SLOWING DOWN THE CAR / START TO DRIVE/ REVERSE. THEN THATS A AXLE THING.

1slow370

Yeah I'm sorry but It can be any of those things, they all eventually will make the same sort of noise, that is why your mechanic or dealer needs to be able to figure out exactly which one it is so they don't waste your money fixing something that isn't broken, the axle grease is just one of the more common problems. Don't let your dealer fool you just because something doesn't usually break doesn't mean it won't.

Or to sum that up just because on your car and a lot of cars it was the axles doesn't mean it is always the axles

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juld0zer

loose brake pads can create a similar noise when changing directions while applying the brake. the axle click is higher pitched and more metallic whereas the pads moving in the calipers sounds more dull. sort of like when you strike near the rotor dust shield. loose pads are also going to make noise on bumps whereas the axle click wont show on bumps unless you coincidentally accelerate/let go of the gas pedal

Tadpole

Nope the clicking when you accelerate is the axles. My 350z did this and I replaced and purchased them at a boneyard. Clicking was gone after that. This is the first place to troubleshoot, then check the rest of the drive train next

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Read T

Just went to the dealership here in Charlotte. Told them the car was clicking from both axles. The service manager told me he'd have the techs take a look and that generally a going-over was $99. He had me wait in the waiting room. About an hour later, he found me, said they had fixed the problem by greasing both axles and found TSB NTB12-055d for the problem. No charge (including the $99 I was originally quoted). Walked out with no money spent and a click-less car. Attached is a picture of the invoice. The manager said this should be covered under the 6-year 60,000-mi warranty which as of today's date covers all 370Z's. This should be a free fix if you are reading this.

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JARblue

I'm glad its working out for some of you guys. Unfortunately, not all dealers are the same...

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