I have a funny rattling noise coming from my car when I make a right turn in gear, but it doesn't do it all the time. Any ideas. Oh and it also does it when I drop the clutch. Let me know what you think I heard that you are the Maxima GURU.

 

"... it doesn't do it all the time." Intermittent problems are always difficult. I'll give some ideas.

1) Spare tire. Is it securely fastened? Remedy: tighten.

2) Jack and jack tools. Securely fastened? Remedy: tighten.

3) Exhaust system alignment. Annoying rattles can come from some part of the exhaust system hitting an adjacent part of the car. The exhaust system is mounted on rubber hangers, giving it some freedom to move about. When the engine is cold, grab the tailpipe and wiggle it vigorously up and down, side to side. See if this exercise can replicate the unwanted sound. Remedy: change the hangers and/or bend the metal fingers which fasten to the hangers in order to increase the clearance between exhaust pipes and car body.

4) Exhaust system heat shield. There are heat shields on some parts of the exhaust system. Sometimes one corner or one end of a heat shield breaks free. This condition gives rise to all sorts of weird intermittent rattles, buzzed, clunks. Remedy: repair or replace.

5) Muffler. It is unusual, but possible, for one of the baffles inside the muffler to break loose. This metal piece will then move about on it's own, rattling and banging as it goes. Remedy: replace muffler.

6) Broken rubber bushing in the suspension. Raise the front of the vehicle and support it on sturdy jackstands. Slide under and inspect every part of the rear suspension. Look for cracked bushings. Lower the vehicle and repeat this inspection at the rear end. Remedy: replace.

 

I have the same problem with my accord except it sounds like someone is putting a piece of paper in a fan, real deep and low sounding. Of course it only happens some of the time and normally when im accelerating around corners, but when I drove around with the mechanic it hushed up; typical.

-Nate

 

but you don't think it would be a problem with the transmission or the clutch,, I have a 5-speed and still have the powertrain warranty, but does an intake void that warranty because I have one I want to put on but I won't if it voids the warranty

 

It doesn't void the warranty to have an intake. When I had 49,900 miles on my car (powertrain warranty ended at 50k), I complained about the joltiness of my transmission (just wanted the car inspected), and they did all these pressure tests and stuff only to find nothing was wrong.

What seemed to win them over is I said sometimes when downshifting it shifted so hard that the car jolted and the cd player would even skip sometimes. You can talk your way into getting a bunch of free inspections, just don't be a jerk because then they will want to do as little as possible to help you.

Intake doesn't void warranty though, they actually complimented me and said that although they weren't nissan parts, they were really nice and cleaned out my k&n air filter.

 

Problems with the transmission and clutch can make strange sounds but they are usually described in terms like "grinding" rather than "rattling". The symptoms also tend to be solid (always evident) rather than intermittent.

The question of whether mods void the warranty pops up with some regularity. There is no crisp answer. It depends on the attitude of the service manager. Some will will ignore the mods; others may use them as a reason to refuse your warranty claim.

 

I had a rattling sound from the front end of my car on right turns too. It also happened when I would drive fast on a bumpy road. I had the entire suspension system checked out twice by two different mechanics and they could not find anything wrong.

Finally, the third mechanic found a bent "intermediate exhaust pipe" and I had that fixed. Now my Max is quiet again.

Good luck.

 

My brother has a honda civic
and it was making a noise like your
describing he had the clutch replaced
by a friend and he showed me the springs
around the clutch plate came loose and
thats what was making the rattling noise

 

I have the same problem with mine, when in gear if you take your foot off the gas, i get a rattle, got it checked out and turns out to be a worn CV joint.

 

To add to Daniel's list, you may want to look to see if the FSTB is touching any thing in the engine bay. I had a nasty noise that sounded like an exhaust shield out of whack. It turned out to be a metal air conditioning line that was just a fraction of an inch from the FSTB. Whenever I got on the throttle hard, the noise would occur. It was simple to fix once I found it. Wish I would have found it before wasting alot of time under the car banging on the exhaust! Good luck!

 

I had a couple of exhaust shields come off while I was driving. They were the one's under the rear right passenger side and were just rusted out. Hopefully your rattling problem is that simple and won't cost you anything - the dealer told me that unless I parked in tall grass (and therefore possibley catch it on fire he says), I don't need to do a thing.