Help! 32 Gtr Clicking Sound Only When Front Wheels Engaged

[GON32]

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

[Sinista32]

http://www.skylinesa...ulator-new-ish/

maybe ??

Further information using google and trolling other sites for similar symptoms came up with these.

1. "The R32 relay by the boot catch is the relay that powers the ATTESA pump that pressurises the accumulator that is used to power the piston. If it clicks all the time, the pressure accumulator is knackered".

2. On an R32, the ATTESA hydraulic unit is mounted above the rear diff.

Usual system is a 12V hydraulic pump coupled to an accumulator to store the pressurised hydraulic oil.

A pressure switch cuts the pump at the required pressure.

The accumulator has an internal sliding piston with pre-charged nitrogen on one side and the pressurised hydraulic oil on the other. With time, the nitrogen leaks passed the piston seals so you then get no reserve of stored hydraulic fluid.

The pump has to cut in and out constantly to supply pressurised oil.

Recharge the accumulator with nitrogen, bleed the system and all's well.

Hope it's helpfull

[chook]

doesnt sound like 4wd relay which is in the boot and not that loud. If i had to guess in order, id check CVs, wheel bearings, driveshafts, front diff (maybe LSD shot..if fitted), transfer case. But firstly pursue those metal chunks you found.

[GON32]

Hey guys

Thanks so much for reading and replying!

Sinista32 cheers for looking into it, but Chook you are correct I know the transfer pump sound and mine is much louder than that, you don't feel the pump through the car (even though it was ever so slight) and it definatly wasn't coming from the back of the car.

I actually talked to my mechanic mate a while ago who's worked on skyline's for years and his first thought was the transfer case chain, but that was a long while ago and my diagnosis was brief and scarce to say the least and my knowledge much more limited than now.....I went and talked to him today and my now thorough diagnosis (and video helped too!) led him to instantly say it was CV's like i'd hoped....I then told him about the chunks of metal I found while digging around in the joint (so temped to make that sound sus but I resisted hehe) and his reply was 'yep any metal in the CV's and they're f**ked'. And I know he know's his stuff, he is Gary Snow from Tokage and works at John Snow Automotive in Southport on the Gold Coast if anyone's heard of him...he's a legend I recommend you go see him if you have any import car problems. So I'm going to pull the left hand CV outta my GTS4 tomorrow night and swap it with the dead GTR one and see what happens! Everybody cross ya fingers lol

Thanks for the help for those who replied and even read with the intention to help, much much appreciated!

I will post the results of tomorrow night so hopefully this can be helpful to someone else who has a similar problem

And a word of advice from me, no matter how much think you know/can do with cars, do as much diagnosis as you possibly can before talking to people trying to figure out the problem, every little thing matters. My crap diagnosis a couple of years ago led Gary to think it was the transfer case and me to take the fuse out for about 2 years and get done by the cops drifting multiple times, and now all it took was the bit of extra effort from me to poke my finger around to find the metal chunks plus make a vid and I now seem well on my way to solving my problem (hopefully).....do what you can yourself people, don't be lazy!

Hopefully Ive sorted the problem, and hopefully BOTH CV's aren't f**ked (considering both boots are gone....)

Will post results tomorrow, probly at 4am again lol

Cheers everybody

Dave

Edited December 12, 2012 by GON32

[gtr33sky]

Hi Guys
I come from germany, i have exactly the same problem on my nissan skyline r33 gtr since I have installed a new clutch.
I even installed a new gearbox and I have the problem still
What can this problem be?

 

cheers 

[KiwiRS4T]

Well if it is indeed exactly the same problem then it points to your CV joints.

[GTSBoy]

It will be the CVs.  If it sounds like a CV problem, then that is the first place to look.

 

That is unless it is important that "since I have installed a new clutch" means that it wasn't doing it before and it only started straight after the clutch went in.  In which case, it would point to some sort of error in installation possibly, which is going to be very hard for anyone to diagnose.

Check your CV joints, then check the clutch install.

[gtr33sky]

It is an exedy type s clutch installed.
I'm sorry that I ask so what are cv's?
Do you mean the drive shafts?
The clutch was inserted and removed twice by two different mechanics. So I do not think that the installation could be

[GTSBoy]

CV = Constant Velocity, which are the CV joints on the end of the driveshafts.