The Nissan Path

2007 PATHFINDER 4WD

oh man this is starting to drive me nuts.

random clunk/squeak from the front end. usually when turning or going over a bump

Things ive done:

first, replaced sway bar endlinks. they were worn out anyways. no change in noise.

next, i naturally assumed it was the sway bar bushings but i replaced them and it still made the noise.

control arms with brand new bushings? nope still making noise

replace front struts with rancho quick lift. still making noise

im tired of throwing parts at this, although everything i replaced needed to be replaced but before i go any further I removed sway bar entirely and still making noise

im leaning toward tie rod ends but i dont think ive ever had one squeak before....

thoughts?

It could be the tie rod ends. What you could do is add a little wd40 to 1 joint at a time and go for a drive to see if the steak stops. If it quits after a quick lube, that's your joint. Not a permanent fix, just a way to locate the squeaky culprit without throwing parts at it. My lower ball joint on the passenger side started squeaking and wd40 made it stop for almost 2 weeks. I have the joints to replace all ball joints now, but haven't had the time to install them. Good luck.

I had a very annoying squeak on my old car (Chrysler 300). I made a pinhole in the upper ball joint on the front passenger side and shot it with a little WD40 and found it was the culprit. Never replaced it. Just put a needle tip on the grease gun and injected some grease and then put epoxy over the hole (sealed ball joint, what a stupid idea).

HiBRiD109 wrote: (sealed ball joint, what a stupid idea).

Amen brother.

This is going to sound a little "hokey," but open your hood and locate the catch (the metal loop that goes into the hood latch when you close it) on it for the hood latch. Take about 6" of electrical tape and wrap it tightly around the part that engages the hood latch. Close the hood and road test to see of the noise is gone. I'm not going to guarantee that it will fix your noise, but it has on a lot of R51 Pathfinders, as well as 2005 and newer Frontiers and Xterras. The plastic wears off a piece in the latch and creates a very annoying, high pitched, squeak that sounds like it is coming from the front suspension. I had it on my 2006 and it drove me crazy until I ran across the fix on these forums!

I have the same noise. I can make it happen slamming the front doors. The noise goes away for a bit, but usually comes back. I'm getting out the tape when I get home today

peterpeterson wrote:I have the same noise. I can make it happen slamming the front doors. The noise goes away for a bit, but usually comes back. I'm getting out the tape when I get home today

Yes, mine would make the noise when shutting the doors, as well.

smj999smj wrote:

peterpeterson wrote:I have the same noise. I can make it happen slamming the front doors. The noise goes away for a bit, but usually comes back. I'm getting out the tape when I get home today

Yes, mine would make the noise when shutting the doors, as well.

Which makes sense now. I would pop the hood and have my wife start shutting the doors where I listened for the noise and it would always go away!

It's pretty common. The best thing is that even if it doesn't fix the problem, it really doesn't cost you anything to try, assuming you have a roll of electrical tape laying around the house or garage.

I also had an annoying squeak that was impossible to locate. I used the tape method described and it's gone.

I had a pretty annoying squeak whuck came from the front passanger side body mount. The mount was loose and severly worn. Replaced that and squeak was gone. Also had the tensioner squeak which would be pretty obvious if you had that.

smj999smj wrote:This is going to sound a little "hokey," but open your hood and locate the catch (the metal loop that goes into the hood latch when you close it) on it for the hood latch. Take about 6" of electrical tape and wrap it tightly around the part that engages the hood latch. Close the hood and road test to see of the noise is gone. I'm not going to guarantee that it will fix your noise, but it has on a lot of R51 Pathfinders, as well as 2005 and newer Frontiers and Xterras. The plastic wears off a piece in the latch and creates a very annoying, high pitched, squeak that sounds like it is coming from the front suspension. I had it on my 2006 and it drove me crazy until I ran across the fix on these forums!

OMG!!! Thank you for this, good sir. I too have spent countless hours and costly suspension fixes trying to figure out what was causing the annoying squeaking sound I had been living with for over a year. Who would have thought that a small piece of electrical tape would make the chirping fairies disappear!

terbear wrote:

smj999smj wrote:This is going to sound a little "hokey," but open your hood and locate the catch (the metal loop that goes into the hood latch when you close it) on it for the hood latch. Take about 6" of electrical tape and wrap it tightly around the part that engages the hood latch. Close the hood and road test to see of the noise is gone. I'm not going to guarantee that it will fix your noise, but it has on a lot of R51 Pathfinders, as well as 2005 and newer Frontiers and Xterras. The plastic wears off a piece in the latch and creates a very annoying, high pitched, squeak that sounds like it is coming from the front suspension. I had it on my 2006 and it drove me crazy until I ran across the fix on these forums!

OMG!!! Thank you for this, good sir. I too have spent countless hours and costly suspension fixes trying to figure out what was causing the annoying squeaking sound I had been living with for over a year. Who would have thought that a small piece of electrical tape would make the chirping fairies disappear!

I went through the same thing. I didn't replace anything, but went crazy trying to figure out what it was until somebody clued me in!

I went with a pair of those SUSTEC gas struts and get rid of manual hood support and I am really happy with them!
Here on eBay: Sustec hood struts