I just bought a new 2005 Z roadster 3 weeks ago. About one week after driving the car, I notice a very annoying clicking sound emanating from the left rear axel during acceleration from a dead stop, during transitioning from 1st to 2nd and sometimes during transitioning from 2nd to 3rd. So I search the internet for posts, information, TSBs, etc. that relate to my problem.

Right away I find posts, info, TSBs, etc. that, word for word, describe and outline solutions to the symptoms I am currently facing.

The only problem is that all this information I found on the net pertained only to 2003-2004 models, including the TSB. The rear-axel-click symptom was, supposedly, rectified in the 2005 model. Well, I may be the first 2005 Z owner to re-experience this problem.

This blows.

After printing the TSB, I call up the dealer that I bought the car from and let them know I’m bringing it in so that they can fix their defects (my tire pressure sensor was not working either). I show them the TSB; they say we know about this problem but it’s not supposed to be present in the 2005 model.

No s**t.

He says they will have to take a look at it… So they do, and later they call me up. He, the service manager, says, “The guys at Nissan are really concerned about your car, so they are going to send an engineer down to figure out what’s going on.”

Great. The only reason why they are doing this is so they can figure out what the F went wrong in their manufacturing process that could lead to this defect and use my case as a genie pig to fix it. That’s fine, just as long as they fix my new car.

I come down to the dealership, later in the day, to see what’s up. I also ordered a bunch of Nismo accessories and I wanted to check up on them. All my Nismo parts are in expect one wheel. Oh well. Let’s learn of any news on the car.

The service manager greets me and tells me that the Nissan Engineers are coming down tomorrow to look at the car. “Do you need a rental”, he says.

“No, I don’t unless it takes longer than tomorrow.”

“Okay, that’s fine, we will let you know how it goes tomorrow then.”

Well today is tomorrow. I call the service department up in the afternoon and find out that the car is “ready to go”. Whatever the F that means. I spoke to a moron tech and she could not explain what they actually did to fix the car. So after work, I stopped in to pick up the car and to figure out what the problem was and what it was they did to solve it.

Well, the Nissan engineers never came. Instead, they offered a solution:
REMOVE THE AXLE AND CHECK / CLEAN POSSIBLE CORROSIAN ON THE MATING SURFACE OF THE CV JOINT WHERE IT CONTACTS THE BEARING.

Apparently, this is exactly what the service techs did. I tell moron tech lady, “well if all you did was clean the surface and then apply some molycoat grease, what is stopping the problem from coming back?”

“Uh…”

“F**k”, I think. These guys have no idea if the problem is going to be fixed or not. So I say ok, let me read your write up and I’ll leave.

Their write up, word for word:

609 VERIFIED NOISE IN LEFT REAR. IT IS COMING FROM THE CV JOINT AREA. LOOSENED AND TORQUED THE AXLE NUT TO 202 LBS. NOISE IS STILL PRESENT. I CAN NOT HEAR THE NOISE FROM INSIDE THE CAR BUT IT CAN BE HEARD FROM THE OUTSIDE WITH A PERSON STANDING THERE. IT IS THE SAME NOISE THAT IS HEARD ON EARLIER MODEL YEARS BUT NOT AS PROMINENT. TECH LINE FI#712482 AT FIRST RECOMMENDED REPLACING THE JOINT, BOOT AND BEARING. THEY CALLED BACK AND OFFERED ANOTHER OPTION OF REMOVING THE AXLE AND CHECKING/CLEANING POSSIBLE CORROSIAN ON THE MATING SURFACE OF THE CV JOINT WHERE IT CONTACTS THE BEARING. I REMOVED BOTH OF THE REAR AXLES AND PERFORMED AS RECOMMENDED. THE LIGHT CLICKING NOISE CAN NOT BE DUPLICATED AT THIS TIME.

Hm. Why they hell didn’t they go with the first solution. Oh well. I’ll drive it back home.

So I drive it back home. Sounds good. So I accelerate more aggressively. I hear some clicking from the left rear axle. FFS. So I keep driving it to see how it persists. Sure enough, the clicking noise becomes more and more prominent. By the time I get back to my house, the noise is back in all its f***ing glory. I call the lady up.

“The tire sensor works, but the clicking noise is still there… hasn’t changed a bit.”

“Oh. Well the Nissan engineers also said that the Z is a performance car, and will make that noise if VDC is enabled.”

LOL. WTF? “Well guess what [you naïve dumb ***], I drove my performance car all the way home with VDC DISABLED.” So I guess it’s not fixed. But I sure as hell would like to drive another one of their 2005 Z 6MTs on the lot with VDC turned on and listen to the “performance clicking sound”.

“Ok well bring it back in”.

So I am brining it back in first thing tomorrow. Nissan engineers are full of s***.

To be continued.

-FwAnK

 

My 2005 Armada makes a single click noise when I start off in drive at times, or even going into reverse.

The dealer told me that is was coming from the brake calipers, as the vehicle started out.

They also said they had never heard of the issue before, and that a tear down would need to be performed if we were to get to the bottom of the problem.

I decided to live with the click.

 

they told me that it was the brake calipers too...

i thought i was the only retard with that clicking noise... anybody else?

 

I have a click noise when my car is comming to a stop on a hill (it clicks just before the car stops). I get the same click noise when I go reverse on a hill. If I'm on leveled ground I don't get any clicking noise. Nor I get the clicking noise on acceleration.

I figure its the infamous axle click, but there isn't any noticable performance change on my Z. I'll wait till it gets really annoying.

 

I have the 2005 Grand Touring model. Do the brembo brakes have caliper issues that could cause the clicking sound? The clicking sound does not happen only once as you described. It clicks continuously as I accelerate. So I'm nearly positive that its the axle clicking problem. Has anyone here experienced the axle-clicking problem on their 2005 Z? Is it possible that this is a transmission issue?

 

a quick fix for this problem is to get the nismo lsd and learn to drift. the diff is pretty loud, and you won't be able to hear the clicking over the clunking, and you can't hear the clunking over the sound of the tires screeching. that, and you'll be having too much fun to care.

dealers are not the manufactures of the vehicles, and pretty much suck at fixing them if replacing a part doesn't do the trick after the computer tells them which one. have you tried jacking up the rear end and putting it in gear, spinning the tires, and listening to where the noise is coming from? try to isolate the problem, find it, and figure out whats going on. shouldn't be too tough.

another quick fix is to get a more powerful stereo.

 

I will continue to take the ****ing car back over and over and over again until they fix the car they sold me. I won't find a way to cover the problem up or live with it.

 

I should mention, I heard the same sound with my Z for the first time a few days ago.

Must be a Nissan RWD issue.

 

I have an 05 Roadster with 1500 miles, had it 6 months, I get the same problem, however, I am leary of taking it in, ARGH!

 

So is this problem documented somewhere?

Is the car really supposed to make this sound?

Tech Line (Nissan Engineers) say that it SHOULD make the sound in VDC mode... Well thats a load of shiv because it makes the same EXACT sound when VDC is disabled. Which, leads me to believe, that their statement, "Its a high performance car, it is normal to make that sound when VDC mode is enabled", was pulled from their **** and they are not taking this seriously.

If the sound does not stop I will continue to bring the car in until it is declared lemon.

 

They'll replace the axles before allowing you enough visits to declare it a lemon. Replacing the axles will work . . . I just think that Nissan is saying "f@ck me!" since they thought they had it fixed *LOL*.

Good luck.

G

 

Mine clicks a few times when I put it in gear(I have an auto). And does it again when I start moving...got really bad tonight. I was backing up and it was clicking like a baseball card on a kids bike tire. I'm afraid to go back to my dealer after the last incident where they tried to charge me $100 for an oil change. They were totally in the wrong but still...my car is at their mercy. Does this clicking pose any actual problems other than annoyance?

 

i have a 2005 enth 6mt. mine has clicked since the day i got it. it has become much much worse the past few hundred miles. i only have 8800 miles on it! i guess i will be visiting the dealer soon... F@CK