Grinding Noise '09 Rogue SL AWD

[harryg]

Hello,

My 2009 Rogue SL AWD is making a weird scraping/grinding noise. Sounds like it is metal on metal but not as loud as say an angle grinder.
The sound is coming from the center/rear of the vehicle.

It is not constant and occurs intermittently.

This occurs usually when I'm rolling at speed. For example I'm going 100km/h on a slight incline and I press down the the accelerator until 3k-4k rpms and it will make a somewhat faint grinding noise. It also happened when the engine was engine braking while coming down a hill. RPM's went up to 3kish as I was coming down a hill and the scraping came back.

The noise is not there when I am braking regardless of pressure applied.
If I am parked and rev the engine the noise is not there either.

I see nothing hanging down or out of place on the undercarriage.

I can usually recreate it by aggressively accelerating but not always.
There is no noise when I accelerate from a stop.

Recent work done within the last 2-3 weeks:
Transfer case/rear diff fluid drained and filled by the Dealer (see no leaks from the diff)
Winter wheels and tires mounted (all lug nuts checked)

Any ideas on what may be causing this randomly occurring noise?

[darylzero]

You need to post a video of the sound.

Could be the transfer or differential case. Maybe they didn't put enough fluid back into it. Or they put the wrong type of fluid back in.

[harryg]

Update.
Sorry I couldn't upload a video, there was too much other noise for the camera to capture the grinding.

It was a heat shield around the front cat. One of the welds broke and it was touching the exhaust.

[Rogue Jarhead]

In this case since you had the dealership do the work take it back and tell them to check the fluid levels. I agree I'm thinking low or no fluid, probably low, as none would destroy the gears rather quickly. Tell them specifically for your own peace of mind to check the fluid level and watch them do it if possible.