2009 Rogue Clacking noise-How long can i drive it?

[brucemc777]

There is also a ticking noise that sounds like a spark jumping.

There is no notable loss of power - daughter even drove this vehicle from Fredericksburg VA to Augusta GA and back without incident a week ago other than noting the a/c didn't seem to be working well when she was in GA. The "no notable loss" could be an erroneous perception. Because this is a CVT i have cautioned her never to stomp it unless necessary.

Prior to her drive i noted the oil was down by almost two quarts. Filled to the fill line prior.

Coolant has been and is full with no discoloration nor bubbling.

I was able to disconnect two coils (one at a time) on the right (passenger) side of the engine - each caused a vibration consistent with indicating those cylinders were firing properly when connected. The clacking increases with acceleration. The other two are under items i will have to disconnect to get to them, but i guess we now should approach the elephant, and i am hoping for a possibility other than what i feel i know is the case...

Since the drive down to Augusta and back she's driven it for about a week now, I checked the oil and it appears down a quarter a quart to half quart. I then removed the oil fill cap and was greeted with a breeze like a hair dryer on low.

So what i think has happened would account for the noise and the oversized hair-dryer, but i am confused because other than that, it runs fine. I hardly ever drive it myself, but it feels fine to drive to both of us. (And as you notice, i am specifically NOT saying what i fear is the case. Kind of a Schrödinger's Cat to me...)

The only code it's throwing is a C1711, which seems to mean some sort of comm issue with the driver door.

Can anyone who really knows what they are doing offer any alternatives, like "Oh, these cars are known to have a significant blow-by" or the like, truthfully??? Or if there is only one option, kill the cat.

Awww heck, i know dang well what it is, but as i have been wrong before, i need one of y'all to say it...

Thank you!

Christmas does come with it's stresses...

[VStar650CL]

C1711 isn't a door, it's the lefthand rear tire pressure sensor. Most likely a dead battery in the sensor.

QR25's do pressurize a bit more than some other engines, but you shouldn't be getting a hurricane out the fill hole. If the PCV isn't clogged, a strong breeze means either weak rings or leaky valve stem seals. Check the PCV (and the plumbing!) first to make sure the valve works and you don't have a collapsed hose or clogged rocker cover. A clot anyplace in the PCV system will cause both high pressure in the crank and high oil consumption.

As for the noise, there are lots of things besides a bad top end which can cause clacking noises. Trashed belt tensioners come immediately to mind. You can get a good mechanic's stethoscope from Harbor Freight for $8.

[brucemc777]

Just did a quick internet search on that DTC and i have no idea how i came up with front door - fat fingers, losing my marbles, perhaps a combination of both. THANK YOU so very much for correcting me on that and for all you wrote! A little Christmas hope for that car, as otherwise, it is in beautiful shape. I felt certain i had an exhaust valve that was refusing for some reason to seal at all, which i know still might be the case but i couldn't understand why it would happen without any significant out-of-the-ordinary strains. But as i once told people when i sold cars for a couple years some 45 years ago, cars are mechanical things and mechanical things brake.

I am also blown away by how fast you helped me out - i am not used to that on so many car forums, sometimes entirely no answer at all. People like you are so incredibly valuable to me; i am a diy with some tools that are over my head, but without the experience you have i would be limited to changing tires and maybe sometimes headlight bulbs. What i am trying to say is so very much thank you!

I used to have that stethoscope - well, still do, it just lost one of it's metal extensions! I'll get a new one now and this time JB Weld the pieces together!

[brucemc777]

I replaced the PCV and unfortunately still have the issues. I wish next to blow through the PCV tube (though it's only about 10" or so at most) to verify nothing built up in there. I then intend, unless you advise against or tell me it is pointless, to drain about a quart of oil out and run a quart of "F": type trans fluid into the oil as i have heard repeatedly (yes, on the internet...) that it can "work wonders". I stopped for today as it started raining fairly hard and i can't get it under a roof!

That cited "breeze" coming out of the oil fill cap is strong. Though i haven't used a hair dryer since the 70's (maybe early 80's), it does have the force of one on low, as best as i can recall. Strong enough that when the engine was running and i put my hand about a half inch over it i got a coating of oil on my hand. I did check oil levels and it is about a quarter down from the high hatch-marks.

Am i going in the best possible direction (under the circumstances)?

Many thanks for you help, i truly appreciate your kindness and expertise.

(Oh, and i got a nice Lisle stethoscope that also came with a tube and small funnel end to check for vacuum leaks...)

Best Regards,
-Bruce

[VStar650CL]

Yah, transmission fluid is highly detergent and makes a nice "gentle" motor flush. Try blowing into the valve cover ports first and make sure the baffles aren't clogged. If they are you need a new cover, flush won't usually clear that out.

[brucemc777]

I might try and remove the valve cover to see what i'm working with, i can't remember offhand if it looked like a complete PITA or not

[cmartyn]

Fwiw.. My 2009 would spray oil.out of it when it was new if I left the oil cap off. It wasn't air, it was a oil hole right under the cap spraying up. Obviously the valve cover guy didn't speak to the head guy.

[VStar650CL]

Lol, pretty much all QR25's spit if you leave the cap off. Both of our Altimas do the same thing. The rocker covers aren't expensive and aren't hard to change, the only difficult part is jacking the engine to remove the nose mount. If in doubt, just change the cover.

[cmartyn]

Yes, I know that NOW lol..

I think this was about the 15th car I owned that I changed oil on and I don't remember another one ever doing that. You live and learn. That nice white painted hood never did come clean after that either.

[brucemc777]

I never had one do that! Combined with the air flow my first reaction was to panic. Last nite i watched a video on removing the valve cover by TRQ Automotive and it appears to be as much of a pain as when i did head gaskets on an older pickup truck. WHY would they do that???

[VStar650CL]

On a transverse engine, you can't really support the nose of the engine except from the top. The front isn't an option because of the drive belt and the bottom isn't an option because of ground clearance. So as an engineer, you don't have a lot of good choices.

It's not really that big a deal getting it off, the only thing that's a bit of a PITA on the gen1's is the back bolt on the bracket which is blocked by the plenum. The TRQ vid is the right way to do it, but it's really just a lot of screws and a couple clamps. With air or electric tools you can easily knock one out in 40 minutes.

[brucemc777]

Frankly my first panic was when my younger daughter was given this car by my oldest and i learned it had about 230k miles on it AND was a CVT. Changed (not flushed) the trans fluid almost right away.

"but it's really just a lot of screws" is exactly what scares me! I REALLY hate it when i have a screw or two left over! (like when i did the head gasket on the Chevy-)

[VStar650CL]

When I do a complicated job for the first time, I often pull out a clean sheet of cardboard and deposit the fasteners and parts in groups in the order I took them loose, making notes or scribbles if necessary. It takes a little longer, but it definitely helps prevent screwups from unfamiliarity.

[brucemc777]

OK, the Type F is circulating!

Something else ...

I had in the back of my mind your original mention of "Trashed belt tensioners come immediately to mind." and so i thought for giggles i would push on the belt to see how much resistance i ran into. Though it was a little more flexible than that which i am used to, it still seemed fairly tight, so giving the bod (from my high school chemistry teacher: "benefit of the doubt") that the tensioner is OK for now, i noticed the little alternator peculiarity, best noticed in the attached... woof. I could have sworn i simply uploaded a video i took on my phone and sent to my pc before, but i can't seem to find out how now, so i spent an hour or so figuring out how to upload the dang thing to my website https://mccormick-associates.com/2009.MOV It is perfectly safe and if not, gee, my name is on the website registered along with my address with GoDaddy and whatever is the normal root registration authority is out there and probably a million other ways to find me.

Now, that just ain't right, even for a Nissan, is it???

Thank you, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
-Bruce

Edit: oh my... I know it is a linux server for my site, but i just noticed that because the extension is capitalized on the file that i transferred to the site, the extension MUST be capitalized in the link to make it work... woof.

[VStar650CL]

That's probably your tensioner. It's spring loaded, you probably have a busted spring.

Happy New Year to you as well!

[brucemc777]

The noise when i squeeze the belt with my fingers heard on that video seems to come directly from the alternator (it will be the first use of my shiny new stethoscope), though we have not (so far...) noticed any electrical issues. I suspect to attack this one thing at a time i best relieve the belt and turn the alternator by hand, and check the output voltage. Though the output won't mean much if it is the alternator failing because i know it just might not have yet failed to that point, if it were low it would be some kind of confirmation. If the alternator isn't the one making that noise, or even if it is, i suppose it would be preemptive to replace the tensioner anyway as it is only about a $25 part if i recall-

Hmmmmm. So far 2025 doesn't seem much different than 2024, kind of like the day after a birthday, no miracles yet-

[VStar650CL]

The noise when i squeeze the belt with my fingers heard on that video seems to come directly from the alternator (it will be the first use of my shiny new stethoscope), though we have not (so far...) noticed any electrical issues. I suspect to attack this one thing at a time i best relieve the belt and turn the alternator by hand, and check the output voltage. Though the output won't mean much if it is the alternator failing because i know it just might not have yet failed to that point, if it were low it would be some kind of confirmation. If the alternator isn't the one making that noise, or even if it is, i suppose it would be preemptive to replace the tensioner anyway as it is only about a $25 part if i recall-

Yep, the tensioner is a bit of a PITA to replace but it's a common failure point on all QR25's. You really don't want to take chances with the drive belt because of the way QR's are constructed. This article is for Altima owners but the content applies to all QR's and most VQ's:
https://www.nicoclub.com/archives/impor ... wners.html

If the noise is actually from the alternator, the only thing which can make a noise like that is the overrunning clutch in the pulley. The pulleys can be changed if you have the right tools, but most folks just replace the alternator.

Hmmmmm. So far 2025 doesn't seem much different than 2024, kind of like the day after a birthday, no miracles yet-

I never ask for miracles. I'll settle for bacon and eggs I can afford.

[brucemc777]

...and some good coffee-

[brucemc777]

OK, so for the last couple days i've been keeping quiet on the following because i didn't want to give the impression of the rabbit running around yelling that the sky was falling. usually my daughter has the car away from the house but last nite i had the opportunity to drive it for an extended period of time up and down hills and turns and at different speeds. And so...

When the car is sitting in place i hear the clacking sound. I will soon use the stethoscope to see if we can pin it down, possibly to the alternator, but that is one issue.

When the car is driving there is a sometimes horrifying intermittent clacking. I am not so experienced to say "That is a horrible damaged half shaft", but i am pretty certain "that is a horribly damaged half shaft". She wanted to go to Shenandoah so i suggested she use my wife's car (don't know where you live - we are in central eastern VA so the mountains (Shenandoah National Park) is about 2.5 hours away, and yes, they are mountains. Wife destroyed my beloved 2008 Explorer that was loaded with about everything possible by not noticing the overheat, second or third SUV she has destroyed in that manner).

When i take a break from trying to handle backlogged business that has accumulated to do - the stuff that is clutter and does not make money - i will be "getting jiggy" (i never knew what that meant, but my daughters think it is funny when i say that) with the Rogue. Besides trying to define the engine compartment noise i will jack it up and try shaking, then spinning, the wheels.

Frankly i just couldn't think multiple items would go bad at or near the same time, but at this point i am convinced there are. The universe does have a sense of humor and sometimes i think i am center stage.

Clacking frequency increases with speed. Though the intensity is intermittent, when i first started and drove the car it was significant on my first hard left. Intermittent vibration in the wheel.

[VStar650CL]

Is the car AWD? If it is and you don't find anything in the CV's, it might be a U-joint or a bad viscous coupler. In particular a coupler can cause symptoms while turning because the two rears spin at different speeds, and both can cause vibration felt in the wheel by shaking the whole drivetrain. The easy diag for that is to drop the driveshaft and drive it FWD. If the noise stops, you know it's the shaft or coupler.

[brucemc777]

Yes it is an AWD. Suspect i'll have to give it a go. I did find the front right shaft is clicking though the amount of noise i could produce manually didn't come close to what i heard driving. Any tips or cautions for dropping the drive shaft? Never have, but from what i have seen it is pretty straight forward. I just have a knack of having the vehicle that doesn't want to conform to the YouTube video-

[VStar650CL]

Nope, it's easy-peasy. Just unbolt it.

[brucemc777]

Well, i am back. I wanted to give an update to all you great folks!

Just as i was about to start work on the car we got hit by cold. Not "cold" like i used to run into in Michigan where you were praying to get back up into the 20°'s, but still too cold to do anything on the car that wasn't absolutely necessary. And so a couple days later my daughter calls me from work to advise car won't start, and no jumping will get it going. I pay for a tow back home ($138.00) and try to jump it. Nope. I arm the parts canon. $200 for a new battery (that was dumb), nope. So i pay for a tow to a local trusted garage for diagnosis. $88.00, the A/C compressor is locked, starts fine without the serpentine. I drive it home, go to the salvage yard and in the freezing temps get an A/C compressor after going through 6 other cars and they all either had the compressor removed or were too smashed in the front end. (at this point i just want a functional pulley, figured i would get a solid A/C compressor when it got a little warmer and do the full A/C thing then). Not thinking much i get it home and find that one is frozen just like ours was - the pulley was at a slight diagonal and upon inspection the bb's were scattered. Take it back to Pick-A-Part in Fredericksburg (really Spotsylvania, VA) and they refuse refund as they have a policy that i missed that you have to pay for a policy for returns (furious...), so i order a new cheap compressor as for now as mentioned, all i want it for is the pulley capability. Got that installed and we are back to a running car. (Also replaced belt and tensioner as advised, but to get that belt on i had to pull that tensioner back as freaking far as it would go!)

On the test drive i thought to myself "dang, that's a bad CV joint for sure! (even though i never have honestly been shown what one sounds like - all the videos say a clicking sound. This was major CLACKING i'm hearing). Took a good look and yes, grease everywhere and split boots. Replaced the half shaft, which i had ordered prior as i was leaning that way. Yes, the old one was a piece of junk and the new one solved the clacking, but i know i need to replace the driver's side now also, and i think (again, i am making the diagnosis up from what i hear the symptoms sort of sound like) that i should replace both front hubs, but for now i noted that oil likes to come out from under the valve cover, so i have that winging it's way here, i think arriving today.

That pretty fairly brings us up to date on this fun project. One of my other daughters bought that car used and several years ago and i am praying that prior to her purchase someone replaced the trans, for at 239k or so, that CVT should have already died from what i hear (yes, i did change the pan fluid and filter in October), and i would not be happy if after all this work it then decided to blow apart. Will advise!

[brucemc777]

Looking upon this as a saga instead of a single issue now...

Between the new half-shaft, tensioner, belt, and a/c compressor the clacking is gone.

Of course about a couple weeks after that significant oil leaks were appearing on the driveway, and especially because we rent, that was doubly not a good thing. Not recalling the timing but since a few months prior i changed the trans fluid and oil i had that fear of maybe i didn't tighten something enough or worse, too much.

Looking under the car it was a mess from the oil pan to the tire. I noticed a little leakage from the valve cover and have the replacement sitting in the garage, but that couldn't account for all the oil and where i was looking so after a bit of searching i found that oil coolers are a regular culprit. Once again, the coincidence of my work would have had nothing to do with that, but as it was possible i ordered a set of seals.

You know, i think the people who make the videos for TRQ cheat. The ways i had to contort my arms in that little suspension and brake predominated space was ridiculous. Of course, most of the YouTube videos on this have the benefit of a lift and i have a driveway, but when all was said and done, no more oil leak.

And so, if i can, today's project will be the a/c system. When i replaced the compressor before i just slapped it in and hooked up the hoses, not the electrical - the need was so a functional pulley would be there, but now it is getting rather warm outside. Today (if i get to it) the project is to replace the drier, suck the system dry, go get refrigerant and when back see if the system is still holding, then recharge.

All for my daughter...

[brucemc777]

I hope you folks are still with me here-

After a number of repairs let's get back to "clacking", which is now something closer to "tapping" under and behind spark plug #3. I did replace the valve cover and plugs. The noise was localized with the automotive stethoscope. Is my next step to tear it all apart again (OK, not that much...) and check for valve clearance? If so, i'll need some guidance - never did that before-

Thank you and praying you folks still are out there with me!
-Bruce

[VStar650CL]

On a QR the lash is set by shimming (basically different lifter thicknesses), so if that's the issue then something is worn out. It isn't a simple locknut adjustment like the old days. Just to re-shim you need to pull the timing cover and camshafts, and if the problem is in the valves or seats then you'll need to get the head reworked. So you need to hope that ain't it, and if it is, then you may just need to live with the tap. If it's just wear in the cam or lifters and not a valve issue, aggressive maintenance should keep it from getting worse.

[VStar650CL]

PS - Make sure you're not hearing a pinhole leak from the exhaust manifold and mistaking it for something else. Pinholes can be very loud and don't necessarily make the kind of spitting noises you expect from an exhaust. The simplest way to check is to have an assistant block the tailpipe with a shop rag. The added backpressure will make the leak much louder and more obvious.

[brucemc777]

As always, great thanks for helping me with all that you know, i appreciate you taking the time also!

Using the stethoscope (with the contact probe, later duplicated with the acoustic horn) and moving back and forth several times from the area of the #1 plug to just past the #4 plug horizontally and repeating the sweep vertically from above the plugs to below the plugs (still keeping on the top of the valve cover) the tapping was definitely strongest above the #3 plug, and placing a finger on the area i could also feel it. Due to being able to feel the tap i suspect we can be pretty sure i can be disappointed the valve can't be adjusted! An annoyance i can live with; a safety issue would be another story. I will follow your advice and handle maintenance on her car regularly.

Thank you VStar650CL, very much appreciate you coming to my aid.

[VStar650CL]