Hey guys. I did search and found a couple people with similar problems from a few years back but there were no follow up posts to let us know what happened.

Problem:

When the car starts moving from a stand still, there is a grinding noise coming from the rear of the car. It sounds very much like it is coming from the diff. It happens when the car starts moving while the engine revolutions are kinda low (<2k). I took it to the dealership and of course they said, "We cannot duplicate the noise". I know you guys don't like to diagnose "noise problems", but I just would like to know if anyone else has experienced this and what was the cause and solution?

My car is an '03 with 21k miles on the odometer.
The car is bone stock with the exception of Hankook Ventus RS-2s with approx. 5k miles on them.
I bought the car used when it had 16,600 miles on it back in July '05.

The diff fluid was changed with LE-607 back in early Sept. '05.

 

my 2001 had a similar issue. the solution was to thoroughly clean the rear hub assembly where the wheel mounts. Turns ou there was a lot of dirt between the wheel and rotor and it "rolled around" causing the wheel to shift a little when starting to move.

 

Hmm..I'll try that. I took all four wheels off not too long ago to inspect the brake pads and calipers and I sprayed brake cleaner on all four corners so I know there was no dirt then. And yes, the grinding sound was there before I took all four wheels off. Thanks for the reply

Does anyone else have any input? Thanks a lot.

 

there's a service advisory to retorque the axle nut, but I don't know if 2003s were affected or not. It's worth a shot.

 

Thanks

 

I'd go for the axle nuts as well. It will make a rotational noise when creeping along slow. Done quite a few.

Unstake nut

Remove nut

Grease contact face of nut

Tighten nut to 220, re-stake nut. There is absolutely no reason to replace the nut, unless the threads are galled. With the new torque, the staked area will move foward and give you a clean area to stake.

 

I'm sorry, but what does "stake" mean? And do I need a special tool to do this? Thank you.

 

Stake just means take a flathead screwdriver and hammer the axle nut so that it bends into the little notch (locks it and prevents the nut from loosening). It will make perfect sense when you are looking at it.

 

It will take alot more than a screw driver to unstake the nut. Get a small chisel and shape it on a grinder. I'll post pics later if you like.

 

Yes pictures would be great thanks!

How much would it cost for me to get my mechanic to perform this (estimated)?