Hey everyone, thought i would share a problem that i ran into a few months ago that is now thankfully fixed but was wondering if anyone ever ran into this issue. and believe me i searched far and wide on every forum for an answer when running into this problem and found nothing.

so basically what was happening was a rough grinding sound that would come one in first gear under mild to heavy acceleration, and would come on intermittently 3-4 times. once i would shift into second the sound would happen under acceleration again but its less pronounced, and so on for every gear (except for 6th).

first mechanic i took the car to, told me my clutch was gone, and was veeeery confident in his diagnosis.

(i didnt believe him)

second mechanic told me it was my rear differential bushing (which i already knew was leaking) was causing the issue.

third mechanic told me he cant pin point whats causing it but recommended i change the transmission.

forth place i took the car to was the Nissan Dealership (and they had the funniest answer); they said my front wheel bearings are going and that was the cause of the issue ( apparently the car got diagnosed by a master tech LMAO)

Finally i took the car to the fifth shop which was a national transmission that a friend recommended to me and the guy found that the motor was "torquing too much" and lifting up and rubbing against the strut bar. he removed the strut bar and underneath you could see the marks left on the top of the TB and the bottom of the strut bar, and once removed the sound went away! so he added an extra washer to each bolt and that fixed the issue. no mind you i haven't taken off the strut bar in ages, and upon checking the engine mounts, the mechanic told me the mounts are 100% fine and he has no idea how this could have happened.

now its been about 2 months since i got the issue resolved but i was curious if anyone every ran into this problem or know anything related to this.

Thank you

 

I've heard of this issue before with a plenum spacer. Did you have one installed?

 

No it's completely stock, never added a spacer or anything

 

Are you the original owner?
It you bought it used, it's possible the previous owner installed a plenum spacer, or maybe even an aftermarket lower plenum. Also, is the front strut bar the original/OEM/Stock bar?

Basically this shouldn't happen unless the engine mounts are out of spec, the strut bar is out of spec, or somehow your plenum/intake manifold grew in size.

Glad to hear you found the root cause. It really goes to show you that you can't trust very many shops/mechanics/dealerships anymore. Many don't even bother with simple troubleshooting and diagnostics anymore. If you have the time and tools, I say do the work yourself. You save money and in most cases, you do a better job than the mechanic or shop will.

I can't tell you how many times I've handed my keys over to a shop for some simple work (like new tires) only to have my vehicle returned to me with damage that wasn't there before (interior scratches, exterior scratches/scuffs, dings/dents). Most people wouldn't notice this kind of stuff, but I personally detail my car in and out often, so I know every inch of it.

 

I'm not the original owner but I bought it from the original. And it's not like the problem was there ever since I bought it, or it was and I Didnt notice it, no. I drove the car for over a year and non of that ever happened then one day it randomly started doing it. The strut bar is the stock one and there's no spacer, so the only logical thing is that the mounts are going ? I'll have to get another pair of eyes to check the mounts and confirm nothing is wrong with them.

 

Did anyone else think when reading this First little piggy went to the market, second little piggy... lol

 

lol i knew it would sound a little redundant even as i was typing it out lol

 

I know I just had to day it. Lol