I just picked up a 73,000 mile 2000 Maxima SE with the 5-speed manual tranny a few days ago. What a great car!

I noticed on my way home from work today (2nd day of ownership) that the car has a "clunk" coming somewhere from the front end, I think it's coming from the passenger side front wheel area. It only happens under light or no throttle while going over bumpy stretches of road. I can also reproduce the sound if I put the car in first gear and alternately apply and release the throttle or under any throttle pressure if the road is REALLY bumpy.

I jacked up each front wheel seperatly and checked for movement/play/loose wheels/etc (bad ball-joints or tierod ends, loose lug nuts, bad wheel bearings, etc) and found nothing.

At this point I suspect it is something strut-related, but would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this. I've heard "bad CV joint" sounds and this doesn't sound like that as it happens when going straight and only when the roads are bumpy, like something is loose or going to fall off.

I can tell you that the struts appear to be dry, and not leaking oil.

Any thoughts? Is there a bushing or something I should be looking at? How would I diagnos something like this?

Thanks!

 

What's the history of the car? Do you know if they ever did this TSB? Did you buy from a private party or dealer? If dealer, see if you can have them fix it at their cost. http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb/NTB00-030a.pdf

 

Hm I have a clank from the same wheel but only while turning to the left. I suppose my car is too old and won't qualify for TSB on Nissan's tab?

 

GXE-R, that's sounds like a bad CV joint and fat chance.

 

where can I learn about this TSB

 

CCS2k1Max-
Thanks for the link to that TSB. I don't *think* that's what's happening in this case as it happens all of the time, and the TSB says that it should be happening during RIGHT hand turns.

It's not a CV-Joint clicking sound either, I know what that is...

This is more of a sound like something is loose and bobbling around whenever it hits a bump. It sounds like what I'd imagine a loose wheel to sound like except the lug nuts (and large center hub nut) is tight, so it's not that.

I can also reproduce the sound if I put it in 1st gear and at very slow speeds apply and then quickly release the throttle. As the car goes from acceleration to deceleration it can be heard...."clunk - clunk".

I really appreciate everyones thoughts to this. I'm not a mechanic or anything like that, but I know my way around hand-tools, so once I figure out what's going on I can fix it myself.

Keep the thoughts coming!!!

Thanks!

 

id love to help but have no clue??
just as a pointless side note i got my 00 SE 5spd with the exact same milage

 

Welcome to the 'clunk in the front end club'.

I just very recently have developed the same clunk, reproduceable under basically the same conditions you state -but here's the rub: I have H&R springs and Tokico shocks, both under a year (8k miles) old so & this past weekend I took the right front strut off the car and everything looked copacetic so.....the fact that we have very similiar symptoms with a completely different set up means this is definitely NOT shock/strut related.

Some folks on this board have theorized that it's sway bar end links -something I intend to mess around with this coming weekend....

 

I have the same clunking sound in my 4th gen except its coming from my left side i believe. everytime i jerk the car by hitting the gas and letting go immediately, it makes the sound. also makes the same sound whenever i go over un-even surfaces on the road. my 4th gen has 113k miles. (i'm looking to buy a 5th gen, hence i'm browings in this forum) it sounds to me something is loose and is banging around whenever theres bumps. it has been annoying me for the past month but i haven't had to time to climb under to car to see where its coming from.

 

Gee this place is GREAT!

Galo-
Let us know what you find! I plan on getting my car up on ramps this weekend to see if I can find anything. I'm more motivated by the fact that you have newer struts/springs and still see the same issue. Question for ya: Did you replace the upper strut bushing/bearing (whichever it is?) when you put new struts in?

I thought I remember reading something during another life about that top bushing/bearing going bad and causing this condition, but I could be wrong..

I did notice those swaybar-end-links with the ball-joints on the end. If it's those, good luck to both of us to figure out if they're bad since you can't see inside them.

Thanks guys and gals, you're the best!

 

is ther any chance this is the engine mount? you say if you pop the throtle back and forth the noise occurs. this could be the motor bouncing in the mount or the mount against the chassis. the same thing could be when you hit bumps.

 

Nyet, I did not replace the upper ball mount bushing/bearing thingie....it looked solid as hell then and it still does when I pulled things apart Saturday.....the rubber bushing part is still intact, nothing is loose, looks perfect -which is why I dis not actually disassemble the strut itself, remove the spring, etc.

I intend a poor man's diagnostics for the sway bar links: I'm just gonna disconnect the whole **&&^%$$^ sway bar by disconnecting one of the links & drive around for awhile with the disconnected piece well taped/tucked out of the way....we'll see what happens

 

thats what i'm worrying about.

 

Wouldn't that show itself if ya rev the engine in neutral? I guess I wouldn't think the engine would wiggle around just from a bumpy road, but stranger things have happened.

Good thought, I didn't consider that one! Hmmm...removing the engine to replace a broken mount....that'll be fun.....NOT!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess we'll have to explore that one after Galo trys removing the swaybar end link.

 

Nix that one......I actually tried coasting down a slight hill at low speeds with the engine off (man, steering is stiff) to test for just that -a broken engine mount- and the subtle clunking is still there....

 

LOL! Galo, I think you and I must be twin-brothers that were seperated at birth! LOL! I've done that driving with engine off bit on other cars I've owned. Didn't know there were others as nuts as I am! LOL!

There's a motor-mount under the hood right near that strut tower. I inspected it closely with a bright light tonight when I got home from work. Even tried to pry it apart, but it seems solid. I'm thinking (and hoping) that this isn't it, but it's up high enough that if it was bad a person prolly could replace it easily enough.

Interested in hearing what you find out after disconnecting that sway link. In the meantime, I'll throw it up on ramps and give it a look-over.

 

Sounds like it could be engine mounts. also, when the swaybar ends get old ive heard they make noise. sorry for lack of help

 

Well, I think I've figured it out.....

Put the car up on ramps and checked everything out under there with a flashlight. Everything "looked" fine, but when I grabbed the passenger side swaybar with my fingers and hooked my thumb under the suspension arm, I was able to squeeze it hard enough to get a slight "thunk" sound from the swaybar link. I think it happened to be the lower end of that link. Slid over to the driver's side, did the same thing....no "thunk"...how ironic seeing as the noise was coming from the passenger side. After figuring it out, I'm tempted to just leave it now that I know what it is and that it's not a safety concern, but it does bug me so I'll probably replace it.

Anybody know how much a passenger side swaybar end link costs or if anybody makes a beefed up version?

 

My 2000 SE is doing the same noise but my tuner mechanic, is a good friend of mine also, told me that it was the pass side axle, local Nissan shop $681 my discount from my Dads parts store with tax $64.00 Let me know how yours turns out, I may try that easy fix before replacing the axle.

 

IT IS THE SWAY BAR LINK!!!!!!!!

Well, at leat I'm pretty sure it is.

I disconnected the left front link, and drove around for a while this morning and I did not hear any clunking so...dat may be it. It's not right that these links start wearing or otherwise acting up at just 27k miles -that's not right -speecially when I have a rear bar + I'm dropped, both of which should reduce the loading on the fron sway bar....

BTW, the car feels funny as hell with just one sway bar -the Stillen rear bar...

Tomorrow I will make my normal commute and see what happens.....we'll see.

 

Thanks for the thoughts Galo!

Does anybody make a beefed up version of this link?

You're right that it's not a good thing that they wear out so fast, but they shouldn't cost too much.

It looks like an easy enough part to manufacture out of larger ball joints and a thick section of roundbar.

Since it's not necessarily a safety item (unless you were at 9/10ths into a hard corner when it broke) I'm half tempted to find some nice beefy ball joints with the same stud size and weld one up for myself. (Safety is my limiting factor though... so I think I'll skip that thought.) I just think that the ball joints on these things are too small, which is why they're wearing so fast.

 

I just ordered a new passenger side link from the local parts store. It's a Moog part. I didn't get the part number, but he said it would be $16 and would take a day or two to get here.

Not bad....