[jubjub]

Interesting -- that's the same clicking noise mine makes (you linked to my youtube video in your description), although mine is much worse. I've never thought it was related to suspension movement and your video seems to prove it.

I think it's related to torque, which is why the axle nut seemed to make sense to me. In my video, the noise is most pronounced under acceleration.

I never bothered returning to the dealer -- they have been unable to identify it in 2 trips. The second time they held the car for a week. Mine is no longer under warranty so whenever something does finally break, I'm going to get stuck with the bill anyway...

Hey Redline,

I just posted about my new to me Volt making this same noise. Carmax is saying there is nothing wrong with car and that the noise is 'cosmetic'. What has happened with your car in the last 10 months? Same, worse, repaired?

 

[Redline]

Same. Car has ~68k on it now. Car needs to have recall done for AC hose, so I'm going to ask them to look at this noise again and see what happens.

Whatever it is, it is definitely NOT cosmetic nor normal.

 

[snic]

Ughh. I just came across this thread. I've been hearing a clicking noise from the right rear for a while now, only on acceleration from start or deceleration to stop. I've more or less ignored it as it hasn't gotten worse and the car drives fine. The clicking sounds a lot like what we hear in the OP's video (although not as loud or as constant) and like what's in the video in the other thread linked to above.

It was probably a mistake to ignore it for so long. The car (a '16) now has 60,100 miles - 100 miles out of the powertrain warranty. I have a very good mechanic so I'll take it to him instead of the dealer. It shouldn't be too expensive for him to just tighten the mounting nut, or even to replace the mount. (I hope.)

 

[scrambler]

FYI, Mine turned out to be broken mounts so ignoring it may not be a great idea

 

[Danno]

snic - could it be this? https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10137631-9999.pdf

 

[snic]

snic - could it be this? https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10137631-9999.pdf

Could be. The bulletin says the creak is heard "under certain rear axle load conditions" - it would be nice if it described what those are. I hear it only during acceleration and deceleration, which makes me think it's the axle mounts as described in this thread and the other one.

 

[jubjub]

My car is now at Chevy dealer. I've seen threads claiming loose axel nut, bad axel nut washer, faulty sway bar links, bad CV joint and axel replacements. My noise is exactly the same as Redline's (thank you for the video). In my case, I torqued the nut to 180lbs and the noise became less frequent but is still happening. Will update when they update me.

 

[jubjub]

My car is now at Chevy dealer. I've seen threads claiming loose axel nut, bad axel nut washer, faulty sway bar links, bad CV joint and axel replacements. My noise is exactly the same as Redline's (thank you for the video). In my case, I torqued the nut to 180lbs and the noise became less frequent but is still happening. Will update when they update me.

Chevy called and says the noise is caused by a broken left axle washer. They charged $179 to diagnose the problem and $190.19 is the estimate on parts/labor for the repair. When I dropped it off I tried to get them to skip the diagnosis step and just jump straight to the parts replacement but they refused to do any work without first doing the diagnosis. And they said since I'm out of the 3/36 that no warranty coverage on the broken part.

So $370.06 plus tax here in Southern California for a $15 dollar set of parts and what looks like an hour for a pro or a couple hours for a shade tree mechanic to tackle. There are good videos on Youtube regarding the replacement procedure but it is not just spin off the axel nut and pop on a washer-various suspension components need to be disconnected so you can pull off the hub to place the washer on the axel.

For those with the same issue I've read on other threads that leaving the washer broken/nut loose will cause the bearings to fail (over time). Volts use a low resistance bearing design that makes the part more expensive than typical. As time moves on I hope this forum will provide more examples of noises and solutions so we can save money with our local garages rather than dealing with Chevy. And based on the number of complaints in the forums I too am surprised there isn't a TSB on the problem. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next year they do create one and we get reimbursed for these repairs.

 

[snic]

I just took my '16 to my local mechanic. He heard the noise but didn't believe it was related to the axle. But, neither he nor I have put in the effort to localize it to a specific wheel. He said that once I'm able to tell him which wheel it is, he'll take it apart to see what's going on.

 

[jubjub]

On my car it was very easy to tell where the noise was coming from. Sounds exactly like Redline's video in the first post here. Oddly, some people have the clicking/creaking noise that Redline and I have and others have a click/thunk kind of noise and I've seen both attributed to the axel nut/washer. Picked up my car today and in short test drive home the new washer appears to have fixed the problem. I suspect that some of the 'tighten the axel nut' camp have a broken washer but the fresh torque keeps it together enough to get rid of the noise.
Thank you to everyone that posts here. Great to have such an active community to share knowledge with!

 

[bentbiker]

He said that once I'm able to tell him which wheel it is, he'll take it apart to see what's going on.

Does he really call himself a mechanic? Sounds like, "I don't want to risk making a diagnosis, find out I was wrong, and not be able to charge you for my failed efforts." He and I wouldn't work well together. How far are you from Avoca and South Main Auto (Eric O)?

 

[snic]

Does he really call himself a mechanic? Sounds like, "I don't want to risk making a diagnosis, find out I was wrong, and not be able to charge you for my failed efforts." He and I wouldn't work well together. How far are you from Avoca and South Main Auto (Eric O)?

He's actually pretty good. I've used him for years, and he's very honest. And he's done many repairs the inexpensive way rather than charging me an arm and a leg for stuff I don't need. For example, I have an older Infiniti in which rain water was getting into the headlight assembly. Rather than replacing the whole assembly, he built a "dam" that channels water away from it. 1/10th the price and has worked fine. Makes perfect sense for an older car. And on the same car he spent hours diagnosing a squeak from the struts and didn't charge me a penny for it, just like he didn't charge me this time around for the time he spent trying to figure out where my clicking is coming from.

Since he doesn't charge for diagnosis, it's not really fair for me to ask him to spend an inordinate amount of time doing something I could very easily do myself - ride in the back seat in a quiet area, have someone accelerate and decelerate the car, and localize the noise better.

 

[Redline]

UPDATE -- 12/2020 -- problem finally solved!!!

What a difference a competent service advisor makes. Go see Jose Chavez at Capitol Chevrolet in San Jose.

Car now has 69k miles and had to go in for:
-- A/C hose recall
-- Shift to park issue (first time)
-- Ticking from left front (third time)

Without hesitation, Jose acknowledges his awareness of all 3 issues with Volts. I asked if the ticking was related to the broken axle nut/washer and he said that replacing those has previously solved the problem. He also said their typical procedure for the shift to park issue is to replace both the harness and the shifter (he was fully aware of the TSB and that this is covered under the Voltec warranty). I couldn't believe my ears. My last service advisor told me "not to believe everything you read on the internet" when I asked about the axle nut/washer and the ticking.

Got the car back 3 days later with a new axle nut and washer, new shifter harness and shifter and no more ticking or shift to park issue. All covered by warranty. Finally.

 

[obermd]

Do you get that ticking even before the car is taken out of park? I'm now hearing it while in park with the parking brake set.

 

[Redline]

Do you get that ticking even before the car is taken out of park? I'm now hearing it while in park with the parking brake set.

No -- see video in the first post -- mine was only related to starting/stopping.

 

[obermd]

No -- see video in the first post -- mine was only related to starting/stopping.

That's what I thought. I couldn't tell if it was only while the car was in motion though.

 

[snic]

UPDATE -- 12/2020 -- problem finally solved!!!

What a difference a competent service advisor makes. Go see Jose Chavez at Capitol Chevrolet in San Jose.

Car now has 69k miles and had to go in for:
-- A/C hose recall
-- Shift to park issue (first time)
-- Ticking from left front (third time)

Without hesitation, Jose acknowledges his awareness of all 3 issues with Volts. I asked if the ticking was related to the broken axle nut/washer and he said that replacing those has previously solved the problem. He also said their typical procedure for the shift to park issue is to replace both the harness and the shifter (he was fully aware of the TSB and that this is covered under the Voltec warranty). I couldn't believe my ears. My last service advisor told me "not to believe everything you read on the internet" when I asked about the axle nut/washer and the ticking.

Got the car back 3 days later with a new axle nut and washer, new shifter harness and shifter and no more ticking or shift to park issue. All covered by warranty. Finally.

So even the axle nut/washer replacement was covered under warranty? The drive train warranty is 60k miles... Does the paperwork they gave you indicate which warranty covered it?

I didn't bother taking my car to the dealer for the clicking issue because I'm over 60k miles, and I'd prefer to avoid dealers and their BS as much as possible. (Which is not to say there aren't some good ones out there.)

 

[snic]

My mechanic fixed the clicking/creaking problem by replacing the two front axles on my '16. So far it's as quiet as a mouse, just like when the car was new.

He did try tightening the axle nuts, but that had no effect at all. I bought some non-OEM axles, which hopefully won't develop this issue.