Hey guys!
I need some help diagnosing a problem Ive had with my R32 GTR for a while.
There is a really loud clicking/skipping (its the sort of metallic click/clunk that Ive heard brakes make before but the brakes will just make a single click when first being applied and I think more often after braking after being in reverse, but this is that sound over and over really fast, and wheel speed related and gets more severe the more torque is applied) that occurs only when the front wheels are being driven.
My first thought was the cv's or driveshaft or something but I want to ask here before I go ripping things apart.
Car drives fine, makes no noise whatsoever when driving turning braking or anything, just as soon as the front wheels have torque going to them when accelerating hard there's a very loud clicking/skipping sound coming from the front somewhere, sounds like the front left but its kinda hard to tell it could really be anywhere.
I've dropped the clutch on a gravel road to test if the front wheels have power going to them and they definately pulled the car along the right amount so there's plenty of power getting to them so nothing's actually broken which is why I'm so stumped on what is actually wrong.
I THINK can just feel the clicks through the car, but its only veeery slightly.
Im also pretty sure it doesn't make any sound up to roughly 10% torque, its only when it gets above that under higher load that it starts to click.
Upon looking at my driveshafts the inner cv boots are intact but the outers on both sides are stuffed and split all the way around and I'm pretty sure have been for some time. Since I could get to the greasy bit of the outer joint I put the wheels at full lock and stuck my finger in and gave them a comprehensive feel (that's NOT meant to sound sus at all lol) and I found that everything seemed smooth and rotated freely with no noise but I did find 7 or 8 small (like half a grain of rice size or maybe a little larger) chunks of metal in the joint floating around in the grease on the left hand side, and basically no chunks at all on the right hand side (maybe a couple of grain of sand size bits)....although the right side did have a 2 extremely thin curved filings that were so thin they were almost as weak as a piece of wire and approx. 1 cm long each. The noise was still there after I removed the chunks.
This all still has me guessing, as the noise is wheel speed related, seems to get louder the more torque is applied like I said, and is very consistent as I have tested it many times and its always exactly the same. Ive made it click many times (say 20 or 30 at random times over about 2 years?).
Could it be one of the parts in the joint has some sort of damage or chunk taken out (hence the chunks of metal, and from being exposed to crap cuz of the dead boot/s) and is making this sort of sound every time it rotates but only under load? I know there are splines in there as well though I just don't know the driveshaft/hub assembly THAT well but it does sound like its almost skipping a tooth or something every time it rotates, but like I said my knowledge is very limited there.
Otherwise what are the chances it could be the diff or I even had someone mention the chain in the transfer box missing a tooth and skipping or something, but I would imagine it wouldn't be perfectly consistent if that was the case? My knowledge is very limited once again of the diff and the transfer case.
F**k it after writing all this out I'm even more baffled than I was before so I'm gunna make a video, think I'm gunna need all the help I can get
Just in case its confusing I did 5 pulls, first 3 were in car with windows down, 4th was from outside the car and I was a bit more aggressive with the launch so it clicked really fast and just sounds like a bit crunch, and 5th as I say is windows closed.....and notice on the 3rd one it didn't get above about 10% and there was no noise at all. Confused yet? I am lol
Cheers everybody for any help I can get, every opinion is worthy and very much appreciated so throw them my way.
Can't tell you how much I appreciate your help!
And sorry for any spelling/grammar issues, its 4am lol