Hey everyone,

I recently noticed a clicking which I believe is coming from the right front wheel well. It increases as vehicle speed increases. I can hear it only from 10-20 mph and it occurs in straight runs and while turning. I jacked up the xterra to see if it might be the bearings, but everything appears solid. Right before I discovered this clicking I noticed a high frequency vibration at highway speeds. I have looked in both front wheel wells and have not been able to find anything obvious. This is an 05 Xterra with about 43,000 miles on it. I am at a loss and will soon take it into to get checked. Thanks for any replies.

Aren't those things AWD? Could be CV's if so, or a u-joint. Sometimes sounds aren't coming from where you think they are when you're driving down the road. It's hard to tell.

dumb i know, but i gotta ask.. no rocks in the tread right?
what about the hub?
can you duplicate the noise when you have the wheel off the ground by spinning it with your hands?

I'm glad you said that Ricer because I almost posted the same question. hahaha

But it is a valid question though. A roofing tack in your tire makes a distinct metal ticking sound on the road.

Aren't those things AWD? Could be CV's if so, or a u-joint. Sometimes sounds aren't coming from where you think they are when you're driving down the road. It's hard to tell.

No they're not AWD. However there are no auto or manual hubs so the front drivetrain is in motion at all times.

CVs usually only make a noise during turns. Have you checked the U/Js?

Well that's good to know. I read that the 2nd gens were AWD somewhere, but I didn't want to believe that, glad it's not true. Can't remember where I saw that...

Anyway, since it doesn't have hubs and the CV's are always turning, that could be a possiblity. CV's usually do tend to make more noise when you're turning, because of the increase in operating angle. They do, however, still have an operating angle when going straight, and can make noise; though it's less likely. The front u-joints shouldn't be turning when in 2wd, so that shouldn't be it. The u-joint at the TC rear output could be it, or the one at the rear pinion yoke. Depends on how sure he is that the sound is coming from the front. Can be tricky sometimes.

My old roommate had a hard time troubleshooting a sound in his truck one time. Kind of a weird clanking sound the sped up with the truck. Wasn't effected by braking, turning, accelerating, or anything. Just timed with the speed of the truck. Turns out, I had zip tied a couple washers to his drive shaft so that they swung around and whacked his exhaust. The sound didn't start till he hit about 5 mph and they were swinging outward far enough. That was a pretty good one. :mocking:

I did check for rocks and nails and there were not any. When I put it in 4WD the clicking seems to stop.?.

That almost sounds like you have a hub that's not completely disengaging when you are shifting from 4WD to 2WD. I can't be much help other than that opinion though. Cyclemut or Pvfjr will have to correct me or back me up on this one.

First post here.

I was actually researching about this exact problem and joined the forum in hopes of finding an answer. Me and you have the same year and mileage and I have a clicking in my drivers side front. It isn't the engine, it isn't CV joints as far as I can tell and it isn't obvious it's the brakes or bearings.

I just took it in to get looked at at Les Schwab (they don't charge anything for a brake check) and the guy said he didn't see any safety issues and I still have about 60% left on the pads.

The brakes are good, no shuddering or pulling when I break. He said it is probably runoff or the brake pads hitting the calipers. I was going to take it into Nissan to get it checked but they charge 70 bucks just to look at it. I have been driving it with this for a while, and recently drove it back from Portland and had zero problems; no vibrations or odd handling. I might still take it in to Nissan as I'm kind of anal about things but I'm not overly concerned with it right now.


Dan

All right, well I'm taking it in to Nissan tomorrow because I don't like random noises. I'll let you know what the verdict is. Chances are we have the same problem.


Dan

Well me personally, I'd just strip it down till I found something that looked like it'd be the culprit. I would think it would have to be in the hub/bearing areas. I'm sure I could find it, if I had the truck in front of me. I've got enough experience to be able to tell what's out of place or what might not look right when I'm taking something apart. I'm sure you could recognize a severly worn component or broken pieces of something if you did some exploratory surgery. You can conjecture all you want, but at a certain point, you just gotta get dirty and start ripping into things. Without hearing the noises in person, we can only give a certain amount of guidance. Wish I could be more help, sorry.

Allright well my problem is this:

U Joint is loose and shot and the movement caused the transfer case to spring a leak. They have to change out the U joint and Transfer case seal. The quote I got was 238.00 for the work. I'm thinking the warranty will cover most of this but I'm not sure yet as this would be the first time I have used it. I would love to do this myself but I'm not familiar enough with Nissan to attempt it yet:clueless:. If it was a Jeep, I would have had it apart already but oh well.


Dan

There's no difference between your nissan and a jeep with this particular repair. Should be able to do it on the vehicle without removing the case, assuming it's an output shaft seal. The driveshaft bolts up in a similar fashion, except for the fact that they don't use the stupid fasteners that jeep does. Then you'd just pull the big nut for the output yoke, and pull and replace the seal.

There's no difference between your nissan and a jeep with this particular repair. Should be able to do it on the vehicle without removing the case, assuming it's an output shaft seal. The driveshaft bolts up in a similar fashion, except for the fact that they don't use the stupid fasteners that jeep does. Then you'd just pull the big nut for the output yoke, and pull and replace the seal.
Yeah I took a look at it today and it's fairly simple to do. Luckily for me the Warranty will cover the costs for Nissan doing it. I checked it today to make sure it was what they said it was and it had a lot of play in it. It sucks I just got this thing and already have a repair on it, but at least I aint payin' for it.


Dan

Sweet, good thing the warranty covers it. No reason for you to get dirty then if they'll do it no charge.

Thanks everyone for the help. I will be taking it in tomorrow to see what they say. Hopefully it is something that is still covered under the warranty.