Maxima Pop Clunk Noise
 

Im having the same issue. Taking it to the dealer . Do you think they will cover it as i still have warranty? Has anyone experienced this?

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....49b76798b.jpeg

I have the same issue, the dealer cleaned my brakes and sent me home. I still have the sound, usually when backing up and turning the wheel I hear it. no resolution yet, taking it back to the dealer

Surprisingly, I had the exact issue on my 7th gen. Maxima. Could never get the vehicle to replicate at dealership. There seems to an inordinate numbers of problems from previous generations that Nissan fails to address on subsequent generations.

the sound you hear towards the rear of the vehicle when driving over bumps is in the trunk, that sound can be muffled by placing rags between the 2 metal rods located in the upper portion of the trunk or just simply tie them together.

My Altima has the metal rods...there is a plastic clip that keep them separated and clunk free. Once in a while on side will come unsnapped and I jut have to snap it back in.

2018 Maxima trunk rods are seperated via a plastic clip - Those with the 2017 issue may want to talk to there service dept to see if they
would get them this plastic clip/seperator.

Great advice! I may jury rig a small wood block along with some zip ties to fix this and I will report back how it works.

I second that! It would be awesome and greatly appreciated if someone could do this.

My 2017 SR has the clip installed.

Where is this clip supposed to be exactly? My Nissan dealer has done both TSB's relating to noise from the rear of the car (rear shock linkage replacement and the polyfoam fill on the right side) and the problem persists. They think it may be the right rear shock itself even though it isn't leaking or has any outward apparent damage to it. The car just turned 10K miles. I've noticed the noise is louder and more often when the outdoor temps are cold, like 50 and below. At 70 degrees and up, you rarely hear it but on the most aggressive drop-offs and expansion joints. To me the sound is the passenger side behind the back seat in the trunk area so this clip theory has me curious about my 17 SR. I may let them replace the shock if they're that inclined to test it by spending their cash. They have told me they will keep trying until they find the problem and the tech even talked with his Nissan dealer support and they didn't have much of a suggestion beyond the two things already tried, they said one or the other "usually" fixes the issue. My VIN was in the sweet spot for both problems so they took care of both. I had a 2012 with the same problem sort of, a noise I could never find even after replacing the rear shocks at 75K and all bushings. My 2014 never had the issue but I traded it at 30K for the 17 so it probably hadn't reach the point the 2012 did, where the problem occured starting around the 60K mark. Sorry to say but the quality of Nissan has been steadily dropping. Nothing since my 2003 SE with everything has impressed me.

Edit: Went to Courtesy Nissan Parts page and found the diagram with the trunk torsion bar clips. History: My SR did NOT come with the sport spoiler, I had it installed at the time I bought the car with the rest of the Midnight package. Now, the accessory of the sport spoiler says it comes with torsion bars to compensate for the added weight of the trunk lid but doesn't say anything about clips being included. I'll double check to see if these are on the bars or not. The trunk does raise on it's own about half to 2/3rds of the way up so I'm assuming they did replace the bars otherwise the trunk lid wouldn't raise on it's own. Here is the diagram and the part number for anyone interested:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....8d0c384a82.png

Not the issue
 

This can't be the issue, at all. I have the clip and the two torsion bars are as tight as violin strings and with my hand I could barely tweak them, zero play and all the clearance they need. Certainly they aren't slapping up and down onto anything. My next attempt will be to let the dealer replace the right rear shock and the top mount and go from there. Also while it's up in the air, I'll insist they check everything in the suspension for play as well as the fuel tank itself and it's mounts. Based on my evidence of it being worse the colder it is, it leads me to believe it has something to do with a tolerance hardening up in the low temps and causing unusual clearances. Hoping it's a hardware issue and not a design issue because new parts won't solve that.

I'd like to chime in here about this issue. I have had the issue since I purchased my 2016 Maxima, but never addressed it until they came out with a recall on the ABS Actuator recently. I took my car into my Nissan Dealer I use (they are fantastic) and I mentioned the "POP/CLUNK" issue while I was there since my car is reaching the 3/36 time frame. They pulled up the service bulletin and took care of it while I was in for the recall on the ABS. The fix they applied was the replacement of both rear connecting rods. I took the car back after they finished and that worked.

Now, there is still a minor click in the back somewhere that really sounds like plastic on metal maybe and may very well be any number of reasons why it's doing that, but what my Nissan Dealer did almost completely eliminated that noise in my Maxima. My attitude moving forward is, I can live with the little noise that remains because it's nominal. The SR, which is what I have, has a tighter suspension and I expect a bit more noise from the suspension anyway.

For those that still have this issue, you may consider talking to your Nissan Dealer and letting them know what my experience was so they can look at that maybe causing your problems.

Went with a chunk of rubber on both sides then zip tied to both rails. Noise gone!

Ditto, just took my 17 SR to the dealership for the recall and my car failed so it was "grounded". I mentioned the bulletin and they are checking while the car is in the shop. I only notice the noise when the car is cold and the temperatures are in the 40 and below range. On another note, you keep my Max and give me a Sentra for a loaner?? Oh well, save those miles on my Max and I'll appreciate the car even more when I get it back!!

LOL! I got the Altima as the loaner also. Made me appreciate my Max even more.

I'm having the same pop/clunk noise on my 2016 SR with about 14k miles. The dealer has had the car twice and done the poly fill. The noise is def worse the colder it gets outside (this is my first winter with it). They are taking the car back for a 3rd inspection next Monday so I'll be sure to mention the rods and see what their thoughts are. The other problem I had was with my passenger's seat belt. With nobody in the car, no trouble. When they enter, no trouble. When they exit, the red seatbelt light stays on (it doesn't realize that they are no longer in the car). They ordered some parts and will repair that at the same time. I created an account to subscribe to this thread to follow it.

Interesting about your seatbelt issue. I seem to remember, maybe, there was a recall on that issue a while back. I'd have to check my records. When you go back in, ask them about that. if it does fall under a recall, you should've gotten a notice on that. Do let us know what you find out.

Here are a couple of recalls that may point to your issue...

NHTSA Vehicle Safety Recalls

Recall Number
16V911000
Recall Date
12/19/2016
Component
AIR BAGS: OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM - OCS (FRONT PASSENGER)
SummaryNissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2013-2015 Altima vehicles manufactured January 3, 2013, to July 29, 2013, 2015-2016 Rogue vehicles manufactured October 14, 2014, to August 12, 2016, and 2016 Maxima vehicles manufactured June 4, 2015, to August 19, 2015. An incorrect Occupant Classification System (OCS) Electronic Control Unit (ECU) may have been installed in the front passenger seat. The incorrect ECU and seat combination may misclassify the front passenger seat occupant.

ConsequenceIf the front passenger seat occupant is misclassified, the air bag may deploy incorrectly in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injury.


What Owners Should DoNissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the ECU and update the OCS software free of charge. The recall began February 13, 2017. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.


and this...

Recall Number
16V244000
Recall Date
04/26/2016
Component
AIR BAGS: OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM - OCS (FRONT PASSENGER)
SummaryNissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima, 2013-2016 Nissan Altima, NV200, LEAF, Sentra, and Pathfinder, 2014-2016 Nissan NV200 Taxi, Infiniti QX60, QX60 Hybrid, and Q50 Hybrid, 2014-2017 Nissan Rogue and Infiniti Q50, 2015-2016 Nissan Murano, Murano Hybrid, and Chevrolet City Express, 2014-2015 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles. In these vehicles, the front seat passenger Occupant Classification System (OCS) may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied. As a result, the passenger frontal air bag may be turned off and not deploy in the event of a crash.

ConsequenceIf the passenger frontal air bag does not deploy as intended in the event of a crash, the passenger is at an increased risk of injury.


What Owners Should DoNissan will notify their owners. Chevrolet City Express owners will be notified by General Motors. Dealers will reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, and Sentra vehicles, and replace the OCS ECU in LEAF, NV200, NV200 Taxi, Pathfinder, Infiniti Q50, JX35, and QX60 and Chevrolet City Express vehicles, free of charge. Interim notices were sent to owners on May 31, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669, Infiniti customer service at 1-888-833-3216 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020.

My car has been at the shop for the better part of two weeks now. It sounds like they'll have it through the rest of this week.

Pop/Clunk - they initially did the poly foam fill at the location the two body panels come together and returned the car to me. There is a spot leaving the dealership parking lot that causes the noise so I quickly turned around and left it there. They applied more fill but couldn't fully eliminate the sound. They then moved to the shock mount on the passenger's rear wheel and say that they can't get it to replicate the noise. I haven't been in the car yet so I can't confirm.

Seat belt - they replaced some parts and didn't fix the problem. Yesterday they took the seat out of a Maxima in their loaner fleet and swapped it with mine. Everything began behaving properly right away. They ordered a new passenger's seat and have it on the way. Sounds like it will be here later this week.

Who knows if the problems are resolved or not. They gave me a Rogue for the first week and asked for it back when I told them that the airbag light was on in it. They then gave me a new Altima that they received the night prior brand new. The new mystery now is what color my Maxima is. Apparently nobody at the dealership has seen this color before. At first glance it looks black. The spoiler is black, though, so you can tell it's not black. It looks like a really dark grey with blue tint. It seems to be a big hit around the dealership since nobody has seen the color.

Boom... just looked it up, Storm Blue. I have only ever seen one other this same color. Def rare. And I'm not sure it would have been my first pick either, but I got the car at a good enough deal that the color wasn't going to stop me. Thanks!

Clunking noise
 

So i had the same issue for past 2 months and it finally got resolved. My right strut was faulty so my y dealership replaced and the clunking noise was gone. Finally feeling relieved!!!!!

Struts are in the front and shocks in the rear. My noise was emanating from the rear.

Follow up after about 50 miles in the car. The pop/clunk noise appears to be gone. I think both items were contributing to the problem... the flexing of those panels and the shock mount on the passenger's side. I think they replaced the entire shock and shock mount for good measure.

The seat belt problem is also fixed. They replaced the bottom cushion on the passenger's seat which apparently cost $3,800 for just the seat bottom. Crazy. The car has <15k miles on it but sadly runs out of warranty in about 10 months. I'll need to make sure I get any and everything taken care of that pops up until then.

Good news, aharper. What was the polyfill solution you're talking about? What did they polyfill?

For at least the SR version of the car, there are a couple body panels on the passenger's side of the car that overlap each other. When the car goes over bumps (or a flat highway hitting the edge of an overpass) there is some flexing that occurs causing the two panels to rub into each other and then pop. To fix it, they pull back the trunk liner on the passenger's side, separate the two body panels from inside the car and slowly insert a poly fill type product (think expanding foam that doesn't really expand). This keeps the two body panels from touching and prevents the popping from occurring.

In my case, they did the poly fill and I noticed the noise again as soon as I left. I turned right around and left the car there again. Thinking that they may not have gotten enough poly in the gap, they did it again. After taking the car again there was still a similar noise. They then replaced the shock and shock mount on that side of the car. The noise is now fully gone. My car is a 2016 SR with about 14k miles. I'll probably run out of warranty with around 17k miles on the car. boo.

This is great news, aharper. The replacement of my connecting rods actually did not fix my noise. I thought it made a difference when I drove out of the dealership that day, but the noise was still there. I was just at my dealership yesterday going over my findings based on your input, so I'll be taking my car in after the holidays to have them replace both rear shocks and mounts. What I have found is that every dealership is doing different things to try and fix this problem. Mine said replace connecting rods, and that is based on what the manufacturer says to do. Others have had different results with different dealerships, which leads me to believe that there has never been a direct fix because this is not widespread enough. Some folks just live with the noise or don't recognize the noise as not normal. I know my dealership said it is a service bulletin, so you will never hear from the dealership about it unless you bring it up to them. That doesn't mean it is their fault, rather this is just the way they handle a service bulletin.

I appreciate you following up with everyone here, aharper. Makes a big difference when you have great feedback like this. This is what this forum is all about here. People asking questions, finding solutions and sharing results.

I saw one Storm Blue 8th gen Maxima on my dealer's lot back in summer 2015, none since. I see quite a few Pearl Blue 8th gen Maximas. I liked the Storm Blue, but it was #4 on my color list preferences. I went with Brilliant Silver.(White would have been preference #2 and Gunmetal would have been preference #3).

Exact same problem here ... pop/clunk noise coming from the rear, in cold weather, when the car starts to move and/or turn for the first time. 2018 Maxima SV with 1100 miles on it, bought it brand new (it had nine miles on it).

Since I have had bad shocks/struts on other cars in the past, I think this noise comes from a bad shock ... Will talk to the dealer about it when I take it in for the 5000 mile service.

Mine has never made the noise backing up or turning and is not contingent on cold or warm weather. It just makes pops when I run over a substantial bump. I'm hoping the replacement of shocks and mounts will solve the problem as it did for aharper.