Hello from the south and a question

[fernandoh]

I guys. I live in Santiago de Chile (and spanish is my native language, so excuse my errors), a 6 million people city with plenty of japanese, korean , european and also american cars. Many Pathfinders can be found here as well as many other Nissans (since they were called Datsun). Recently I swapped my 2000 Blazer for a 2004 Pathfinder in mint condition (Japan made, 4WD, cruise, climatizer and LSD). The truck has some 60,000 miles (95.000 km) at the clock and probably they are real. Everything is fine and in good condition, a very fast and stable SUV, no noises, smooth engine, no oil consumption, etc. It likes gasoline but not more than the Blazer.But the car has an ocassional clunk at the rear. This clunk is related with two elements:1) the brake action (when the car is about to stop on smooth pave and you change the brake pedal pressure it happens or happens in the moment to move again. Some dragging is noticed from the drums. THIS DON'T HAPPEN WHEN YOU BRAKE IN NEUTRAL. So this part of the noise maybe related with the gearbox/propeller. Differential is tight, cross joints idem. The auto box is very quiet from R to D and viceversa and probably is in good condition.2) related (or not) with 1) a very similar but louder noise occur when the rear is hitting mild bumps (very small sometimes and never in rough pavement). Is something like a loose bearing or a poor shock rubber. But nothing is loose and shocks have 100 km only.

To eliminate the noise I change the 8 OEM bushings at the rear "arms" (but the 2 in the panhard bar) and the shocks (Monroes Sensatrack, a little bit rough than the originals I removed). I got no a solution and the noise (or noises) is still present. Everything is 100% tight and reviewed. I looked the stability bar rods, the panhard bushings, the wheels, spare tire, gate, whatever. The same did 2 mechanics. The front area was reviewed too. The box support, etc.But the noise is there.Any ideas?At this moment is the only issue with the Pathfinder and I want to solve it.

[Buzzman]

Pathfinders have a known issue with stabilizer links going bad after a while (too much play). It's mostly the fronts that need replacing, but the rears can also wear out. Just looking at them will tell you nothing BTW.The links are cheap and easy to replace. It's a DIY job, if you're a handy kind of guy. I've replaced my fronts twice already. No big deal.Try jumping on the rear corners while it's parked and listen for any clunking while it's moving up and down.That's the only thing I can think of at the moment. Good luck and welcome to NICO.

[KyooX4]

Just a thought, the noise could be coming from your tailgate latch. I had a clunk coming from the rear and that's what the problem was.

Have someone ride in the back while you drive around and see if they can pinpoint where the sound is coming from.

[fernandoh]

Today I pull the parking brake a couple of notches and went on a known bump. No clunk. The brake pads seem to be very new and probably something was poorly ensambled at the rear brakes. I don't know that yet. More trial and error is ahead to me.

[fernandoh]

The clunk was finally determined by my friend and me as the driveshaft small up/down movements while the engine is providing some torque, even small torque (as in breaking procedure when the pedal is released for a second) or bigger (on pave bumps while accelerating and gearing the 2nd). To cure this I used some advise that I read here (?): I simply turned 180 degrees the driveshaft when entering the differential (4 bolts to be removed, then the 180, all bolted and tight again). This produced almost 80% of the noise reduction if not all. Which is the mechanical reason beyond?. I don't know, but the effect was this and the stupid clunk noise is now almost gone.Now the truck is ready for the next 100,000 km.