High frequency vibration

I just bought a Nissan Leaf 2017 2 days ago. I have experienced that at certain speeds it makes a high frequency vibration.
This happens in 93-94 km/h and around 65 km/h. It can not be the tires since the frequency is far to high, almost feels like the engine or something. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
The car is smooth as a carpet in all other speed ranges.

That does not sound like an issue to be concerned with.. SOunds like a wind related issue..

Since you are only 2 DAYS into the car, stop worrying and enjoy the car...

powersurge said:

That does not sound like an issue to be concerned with.. SOunds like a wind related issue..

Since you are only 2 DAYS into the car, stop worrying and enjoy the car...

Click to expand...

Thank you for you answer, yes I also think it might be some wind related after some reading. I will check further.
I bought the car used, it has 29 000 km on it.

Thorri said:

almost feels like the engine or something.

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Of course, the LEAF has no engine.

Unbalanced tires/wheels can vibrate at any speed. I've had issues that only occur at 60-70 mph for example. You could swap the tires from front/rear to see if that makes any difference. If the vibration only occurs in a certain speed range I'd say that makes it more likely to be a wheel problem or a tire with a bad belt, etc.

Okei thanks for the reply guys. I might also just be over sensitive because I just bought the car. But I might try swapping the wheels. It just got out of service, and I read that people have experienced vibration at certain speed due to the mechanincs forget a screw on some protective plastic underneath the car.

jlv said:

Thorri said:

almost feels like the engine or something.

Click to expand...

Of course, the LEAF has no engine.

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Sorry, for the wrong termonology. I meant of course "Electric Motor".

Thorri said:

I just bought a Nissan Leaf 2017 2 days ago. I have experienced that at certain speeds it makes a high frequency vibration.
This happens in 93-94 km/h and around 65 km/h. It can not be the tires since the frequency is far to high, almost feels like the engine or something. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
The car is smooth as a carpet in all other speed ranges.

Click to expand...

Hi Thorri,

I bought 3 weeks ago an used 2014 Nissan Leaf, and I was searching the internet for the same problem: high frequency vibrations at certain speeds when I found your post.

In my case the same vibrations are at 62-63 Km/h, lower intensity, and 91-92 Km/h with higher intensity. It sound like a second war bomber. I taught first that the tires are not balanced but they are brand new and balanced this year. Could also be a wheel or motor bearing or even the gear reduction box...

It's strange that the speeds are very similar. Have you found the root cause? Had you any problems with your Leaf related to these vibration?

Thanks in advance!

sony said:

Thorri said:

I just bought a Nissan Leaf 2017 2 days ago. I have experienced that at certain speeds it makes a high frequency vibration.
This happens in 93-94 km/h and around 65 km/h. It can not be the tires since the frequency is far to high, almost feels like the engine or something. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
The car is smooth as a carpet in all other speed ranges.

Click to expand...

Hi Thorri,

I bought 3 weeks ago an used 2014 Nissan Leaf, and I was searching the internet for the same problem: high frequency vibrations at certain speeds when I found your post.

In my case the same vibrations are at 62-63 Km/h, lower intensity, and 91-92 Km/h with higher intensity. It sound like a second war bomber. I taught first that the tires are not balanced but they are brand new and balanced this year. Could also be a wheel or motor bearing or even the gear reduction box...

It's strange that the speeds are very similar. Have you found the root cause? Had you any problems with your Leaf related to these vibration?

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Hi Sony, I have not figured out the cause to the "vibration". But it has not been a problem, and has not become any worse. Now I just stay out of those to specific speed areas.

Thx Thorri!

I'm wondering if we are the only users affected by this noise/vibration or it's something general for this model (maybe a resonance frequency for the Leaf) but nobody paid attention ...

Anyone?

I recently bought a used 2019 SV with 6300 miles on it. I noticed a similar pulsating vibration/humming from the front of the car, starting around 35 mph and reaching maximum noise level around 50 mph. I just had the tires road-force balanced, rotated, and the wheels checked for any damage. One tire was slightly out of balance, but nothing else was a problem. Even tread wear on every tire. However, I am still having the vibration. I notice at around 60 mph, the vibration disappears if I am making a sweeping turn to the right at highway speeds. It is still there, however, when I make a sweeping turn to the left. Otherwise, the car tracks straight and true, and it hasn't seemed to get any worse in the 1000 miles I've driven it since I bought it. Overall, I am very pleased with the car. I have to get a state inspection as soon as I get my new registration, so I will take it to a Nissan dealer for that, and have them check on the vibration. I'll let you know what I find.

Sounds like a CV joint. Vibration when turning one way only is one of the diagnostic signs of a bad CV joint, although it's usually at low speeds. Yours may be in very early failure.

Right side wheel bearing? Haven't read to much about bad wheel bearings with our leafs but what you describe could be it. Jack it up and rotate the wheel for noise and/or put hands at 12 & 6 o'clock and check for movement.

Yup, that's another possibility, although wheel bearings are more likely to get noisy first, and CV joints more likely to produce vibrations first.

Thank you egl898 for finding the right words for this issue: "pulsating vibration/humming from the front of the car". In my case the vibration is also reduced or disappear when turning right at any speed.

As LeftieBiker and Steelcity said it could be a CV joint or a wheel bearing. I'll try to Jack it up and rotate the wheel for noise when I'll find the time. In my opinion it could be the wheel bearing on the left side as it is not under pressure when turning right..but could also be one CV axle or CV joint..I just hope it is not the electric motor or reduction gear box.

Anyway thank you all for sharing your opinions.

Hi,

Just a quick update on this. I jacked up my car to control the front wheel bearings but didn't found anything particular apart from a noise coming from the reduction gearbox . Cannot say if it is normal or not just by manually rotating the wheel at very low speed...

@egl898 any update on your side?

when i had my front wheel bearing replaced, the tech over tightened the axle nut and in the 35-50mph range i would get a hum/pulsating sound. After replacing the wheel bearing again and not over torqueing the axle nut, no more hum.

Marko

@estomax Thx. This is an interesting lead. The axle nut I suppose is the same "lock nut" from this Nissan TSB tsb-ntb12-055f:

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Nissan/Leaf/2015/tsbs/tsb-ntb12-055f.shtml

I can see on 3rd page that 121 Nm torque is mandatory to prevent a "clicking" noise when accelerating.

That TSB is interesting in the number and variety of vehicles it covers, and in the strange place that lubricant is added. The work consists of putting grease between 2 surfaces that don't move with respect to each other? When the locknut is torqued the grease will be expelled from the joint, so what's the purpose? And why not lubricate the splines too as long as you are in there?

Notice that the torque for the locknut has a curiously very specific value, no more and no less. Well that torque sets the preload position of the wheel bearings. Why not remove the hub and put grease in the wheel bearings--that's where all the moving parts are located and the lube is needed?

Maybe the whole secret of this TSB is just in removing the old locknut (which releases the old preload). Then when you reinstall to the magic torque number which sets the desired preload? The grease serves no purpose in a non-moving joint but might affect the nut torque.

i think this noise is caused by a bearing, either in the hub or the CV joint. The noise is dimished while turning Right because that unloads the suspension on the R side and takes load off the bearing. If so then this TSB is just a bandaid fix, but it is cheaper than R&R of the bearings. It might quiet down the noise for a bit and make the owner happy, but if the bearing is the issue, then the noise will return after the bearing wears down into the contact patch.

Torque specs are strongly affected by the lubricant.

Bolt strength is specified separately for a given torque dry and lubricated.