rdballer

I've now tried a couple of noise/rattle fixes on my Z. I've put foam all over the strut brace in the back and I've taken off the inside paneling behind the driver's seat and padded all things that move and checked all bolts. I've even checked most of the rear suspension bolts/nuts too.

It seems that my Z will produce a creaking noise as the rear wheels go over a grade difference. My best example of this is the height change between my driveway and the street. If the rear wheels go over the curb at different times, I'll get a creaking noise from what appears to be the rear hatch area above and behind the driver's head.

The search I performed located many instances of items being left in the inside of the hatch itself, but my noise is not a rolling or ticking sound. It sounds like two items rubbing against each other because of the flexing that occurs due to the rear wheel height change. It could be the hatch seal/gasket.

Anyone else hear this noise and more importantly get it fixed?

rdballer

I did some more testing today and found out the noise is not coming from the hatch. I drove the rear wheels over the driveway-to-street curb with the hatch open and the noise did not change.

I then drafted my daughter into service by placing her into the hatch area and then driving over the same test portion of the driveway. She narrowed the noise down to the area in the driver's side rear wheel well where the shock mounts to the top of the wheel well. Looks like I'll be taking the wheel off to get to the shock later this week.

johnlotusboy

iTrader: (1)

Same noise in the same situation. I haven't found mine yet.
I'd descibe the noise as a metallic groan/flex.
Good luck and keep us informed.

krutoydude

ok, this is what I did. I have a sub in my trunk so I opened my trunk, turned my stereo up and tried to listen from outside of my car where it was coming from. Well I found out that the noise was coming from the hydrolic thing that helps to open the hatch (pushes it up). I moved the black plastic thing around and the noise went away. After moving it back and force that noise went away. It comes back once in a while especially when it's called.

VandyZ

iTrader: (2)

Put car in gear, take off e-brake, rock car back and fourth (pretty hard) if you hear the creaking noise then it is what I call the "crickets" Your hub nut is not tight enough. I smoked mine down with impact wrench because the torque wrench just did not do it!

rdballer

I pulled the driver's side rear wheel off yesterday. I checked the torque of my every bolt/nut in the rear suspension. Nothing was loose. I examined all of the welds in the rear suspension and they looked fine as well. I've tried rocking the car (not in gear though) and I cannot reproduce the noise that way. I'll have to see if I have a socket the correct size for the hub nut and check that next.

rdballer

Checked the hub nut and it was TIGHT. I had my daughter listen again but she pointed in the same area as before (wheel well). I spent more time inside of the trim pieces on the inside hatch area by the wheel well, but found nothing. I then had my wife drive the car and I listened. I found the "popping/creaking" noise coming from the roof just in front of the hatch. I listened with my ear on the outside of the car with my wife moving the car again and I definitely could hear the noise "right under my ear" with it positioned on the outside of the roof just in front of the hatch. I then opened up the headliner and found a few 10 mm bolts a little loose, but this did not fix the noise. It seems to be the area around the SRS curtain air bag mounting brackets in the roof, but they're not loose.

I give up for this week on this issue.

rdballer

The noise is GONE!

After spending a couple of days trying to find and fix this noise, I ended up taking the Z into the local Nissan dealership. They spent two days working on the noise. The service writer stated that when they called the Nissan Tech line they stated that two other Zs have had this same problem.

They ended up removing the head liner in the passenger area and removed the b-pillar brace bolts and inserted some "seam sealer". This did the trick. I can now stand to drive my baby in/out of the garage again without hearing that blasted noise.

The area outlined in red in the picture below was the area with the problem.

jreiter

iTrader: (6)

Nice! Good to know you found it. Could you possibly take a pic a little further back? I'm having a hard time visualizing what area of the roof that is without the headliner and everything in place.

failsafe

^ yea what jreiter said.

rdballer- I get the creaking sound that you mentioned (when going up my driveway). But what is really annoying me is that I've also developed this clicking sound, seems to be coming from the driver side hatch. It happens whenever either rear tire hits a bump in the road, even small ones like the lane reflectors.
It's driving me crazy because I can't find it and I hear the sound every 5-10 seconds when driving on the freeway.

It is definitely internal and not the crickets related to the axle bolt (that Vandy mentioned). Sounds like it's on the drivers side possibly by where the rear strut bar meets the hatch. I've messed with the strut bar, plastic paneling, and the arms that hold the hatch open but I've had absolutely no luck in isolating it. I'm wondering if you had this sound as well and if fix you mentioned remedied it?

Dissident

iTrader: (1)

rdballer, I have the EXACT same problem!! I am really hoping I can get my dealer to fix is this time, but so far they've been unable to duplicate it.... Was there any TSB on this, or did they get the answer from Nissan tech?

wakaZ

Anyone try the latch? I have a clicking sound coming from that area, and tried electrical tape on the catch side. Seemed to work for a little while but I guess after compressing the clicking returned

rdballer

The photo I attached is the one with the best lighting. The flash decided not to go off because of the background light for many of my shots. The picture I attached was taken from the passenger's side of the Z looking towards the driver's side of the car.

The area I outlined in red is just above the driver's side seat headrest. The tips of the two bolts in the recessed area just to the left of the red (in the picture) are the bolts from the hatch hinge. The noise was coming from the seam just above where I was sitting that is why it sound SO LOUD to me.

I've not experienced any other tick/cricket in my Z, but when I was trying to locate this noise I did find the metal bracket for the amp in the rear under the foam insert on the driver's side of the car was capable of moving up/down on the corner nearest the wheel well. It seemed to make a small "cricket" noise. I put some foam insulation on that while I was padding up the strut brace.

My service writer claimed that they were informed by the Nissan Tech line that two other Zs had this problem, but the dealerships never called back to state this resolution suggestion solved their problem or not. In my case it certainly fixed the issue. The Nissan Case # for this issue was 622795 (if that helps anyone).

Here's the write up in the repair order:

Road tested with customer and verified creaking noise from left 1/4 panel area inside. Removed interior panels and used stethescope to l0cate area of noise. Found loudest at upper left B pillar and cross brace / rear of roof. Removed headliner and interior trim panels, used chassis ears to locate noise - Isolated noise to be coming from inner structure joint where rear roof brace bolts to B pillar structure. Found bolts are secure, but top edge of rear brace was rubbing B pillar brace. Loosened bolts, installed body seam sealer and resecured all trim panels. Test drove and found noise is now gone.

Civib2

rdballer thank you sooooo much for posting your experience with this. I am on my 2nd 350z, my current Z is a 2004 with 120k miles on it. I bought it with 90k miles and have had this noise but could never figure it out. I tried rear shock mounts I even pulled off the entire hatch as I thought it might be something the hatch was causing or rubbing. All to no successes I finally found your thread after searching and figured why not its just labor and a few bucks for some seam sealer. Well I have now done this repair and it fixed it 100% I can drive my car now with no noises! What a difference. I used a stethoscope as your dealer did and found the same area (B-pillar to roof joint behind driver head) to be the problem. Performed the same repair by loosening the bolts and spreading the gap to inject seam sealer then let it dry and re-tighten. Problem fixed.

winchman

If the noise just will not go away, try removing the shock absorbers to see if that's where it's coming from.

After months of searching, I found the noise was coming from the rubber bushings at the top of the rear shock absorber. Taking the upper shock mount off and greasing the bushings cured it for several months. Installing washers of self-lubricating plastic between the rubber bushings and the steel washers appears to be a permanent fix.

The noise was everything from little chirps and clicks whenever I went over a little bump in the road to something like dragging a stick on the pavement.

Civib2

I tried replacing the rear shock mounts/bushings and that still did not solve it. For me it was exactly what was mentioned in this post with the seam sealer. Still to this day fix is holding strong and no noise.

nizmo_0385

iTrader: (5)

Awesome good to know!