Hi all,
My 2008 Nissan Rogue (SL AWD) makes noises that are emitted from the rear of the vehicle (I have googled a lot and browsed quite a few topic here and came to conclusion that this may have something to do with the differential, but I'm not quite sure). I've listened to other people's soundclips and mine do not quite sound the same.
Here's a sample:
https://soundcloud.com/sergebass/nissan ... tial-noise
These sounds started being heard several months ago and were pretty rare and faint at first. However they got progressively louder and more noticeable (even from the outside) as time got by. I brought the car to a local shop specializing in transmission repairs and the mechanic was not quite sure about the source/reason of the noise. He did show me a Nissan bulletin that was related to wrong sounds at low speeds when doing turns and suggested that maybe an electronic component doing the coupling of the rear axle was at fault and probably needed a firmware update.
The issue is that in my cases these noises do not happen during turns. As you can hear in the clip, there is a weaker burst of them when starting the engine and the next time you hear it is when I switch from Parking into Reverse (or Drive, doesn't really matter), even well before the wheels start rolling in any direction. I don't get these sounds while turning but I do get them while accelerating (especially when going uphill), even when going totally straight. It even feels like any time a regular (non-CVT) transmission would do gear shifting, I get something that feels like a sort of slipping (a rear clutch?). At first I was afraid that CVT was somehow damaged but these noises definitely come from the rear area (I recorded the clip while my phone was located exactly under the differential).
Do you have any ideas as to what is the culprit here and what could have led to the issue?
I read several forums about importance of tire size/wear matching to avoid extra load on the AWD trains but this car sees wheels rotated twice a year (seasonal changes in Canada) and all tires are actually the same age.
I'll appreciate any feedback on this as even if I have to go to a dealer about this problem, I'd be more prepared.
(I don't have much trust for dealerships by default).
Thanks in advance,
Sergii in Ottawa, Canada