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Help: Diagnosing weird knocking sound from passenger side in Drive, lowered AWD

Old Dec 27, 2013 | 07:39 PM
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Default Help: Diagnosing weird knocking sound from passenger side in Drive, lowered AWD

Hey guys,

So i have this weird knocking sound whenever i'm in Drive and at a stop that comes from the passenger side. It comes and goes and doesn't happen all the time. Sound goes away when i shift to Neutral. The car is a 2009 IS250 AWD lowered in tein s-tech's running 18 inch wheels. Symptoms below:

Knocking Sound:
  • Lowered on Tein S-Techs but this is different from the infamous AWD vibrations
  • Comes from the front passenger side, a knocking type of noise
  • Can't really hear it from the outside, so maybe something banging against the cabin?
  • Only happens in Drive and at a stop, goes away when shifting to neutral
  • Sound comes and goes
  • Most easily produced when the car is on an incline

Any ideas? I'm stumped and this has been bothering me for months.

Video:

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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 02:11 PM
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Bump, any suggestions on what this could be? Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 02:30 PM
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So did this noise start immediately after you installed the Tein springs? Is it rpm-dependent...meaning, if you stomp on the brakes AND hold it there and lightly press the gas, does the noise increase with the rpms? Are you sure the noise completely goes away once accelerating?
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Old Dec 30, 2013 | 06:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Gville350
So did this noise start immediately after you installed the Tein springs? Is it rpm-dependent...meaning, if you stomp on the brakes AND hold it there and lightly press the gas, does the noise increase with the rpms? Are you sure the noise completely goes away once accelerating?
Hey Gville, much appreciate the help

So did this noise start immediately after you installed the Tein springs?
Noise started a month or two after the tein springs

Is it rpm-dependent...meaning, if you stomp on the brakes AND hold it there and lightly press the gas, does the noise increase with the rpms?
Nope, the noise is not RPM dependent

Are you sure the noise completely goes away once accelerating?
The noise is most prevalent at a stop, and it varies in terms of how fast the knocking is as well as how loud. The vid.eo shows the knocking at its worst. Sometimes if i roll up 5 feet or so, the knocking stops. If i hit a couple bumps in the road at low speeds (5mph), i can kind of hear a clunking from the front passenger side then the knocking will start soon after while at a stop.

Good questions... I'm hoping that its suspension and not engine related. Another member had a similar knocking noise and it was a broken exhaust bracket resulting in the exhaust hitting against the cabin. I checked and couldn't find anything. I'm not sure what a blown shock would sound like and was wondering if this is similar?

Thanks again!
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Old Dec 30, 2013 | 11:13 AM
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My initial thought would be getting thing on a lift and having it checked out from underneath while running. MUCH easier starting point that way. I would hope it would be as simple as a broken/loose exhaust clamp/hanger/heat shield, but it could be as bad as needing a new axle or trans.

GL!
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Old Dec 30, 2013 | 11:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Gville350
My initial thought would be getting thing on a lift and having it checked out from underneath while running. MUCH easier starting point that way. I would hope it would be as simple as a broken/loose exhaust clamp/hanger/heat shield, but it could be as bad as needing a new axle or trans.

GL!
Oh boy, new axle or tran would be terrible. The transmission was replaced 5-6k miles ago @48k miles under warranty by the dealer because of a high pitched sound around 40mph (they said a bearing was going bad in the tranny).
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Old Jan 23, 2014 | 03:29 PM
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Bump*

Does anyone have suggestions on what this could be? I can hear it at very (<3mph) while coming to the stop if its a bumpy road. it is not speed dependent, which makes me lead to believe it is suspension related, so something is loose hitting the chasis but i can't find anything that is.

Would lose endlink nuts make noises like this?
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Old Jan 24, 2014 | 11:40 AM
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I watched your vid on my gs4 and I don't hear anything unusual? I hear the ticking noises but no knocks?
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Old Jan 24, 2014 | 01:37 PM
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Originally Posted by idoke1
I watched your vid on my gs4 and I don't hear anything unusual? I hear the ticking noises but no knocks?
Its hard to tell from cellphone speakers. Once you connect to a computer and turn the volume up, you can hear the knocks.
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