The Nissan Club banner

2016 Altima CVT 'droning/vibration'

21K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  amc49 
#1 · (Edited)
Good Day,

I've recently purchased a 2016 Altima SV model about 4 months ago. This was a used car with about 29,000 km's on it when I bought it and I'm now at about 33k. The issue that I am experiencing, which I believe most are aware of, is an annoying/constant droning coming from the car when hitting anywhere between 1800 to 2000 RPM's.

The car does it while accelerating or decelerating...all within that RPM threshold. Imagine driving over those small rumble strips on the roads...that's the best I can compare it to.

Since purchasing it, I've been to the dealership 4 times. There have been 2 CVT software updates done, 2 exhaust hangers changed and 1 exhaust bracket changed. It has helped with the vibration felt under the armrest and seats but the droning is still present. I also noticed that it doesn't happen when the car is running cold...after about 5-10 mins of running, it starts up.

Besides this, I love this car. I just wish it had the smooth ride that the CVT is supposed to promote.

At this time, I put in a complaint with Nissan Canada as the dealership have now said that this is how the car runs; there isn't more they can do. I'll update once I hear back from them.

Thanks for reading and if anyone has anything to add, please let me know!

Cheers!!!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I had this issue with 13 Altima. Very noticeable when accelerating, however didn't notice it when decelerating. It was diagnosed to be an alternator issue. They tried to sell it to me as something that is normal, but after I showed them a TSB associated with it, they replaced it and I never heard it again.

But AFAIK, this was not reported to be a problem in newer model years, but I could be wrong.
 
#3 ·
I had the same issue with my 2014. I would get this horrible vibration about 1900 rpm. The vibration was consistent if I could hold the rpm steady. See post 48 in the thread below.

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/20...tima-2-5l-vibration-shuddering-low-rpm-4.html

I added the washers as the post suggests and the vibration disappeared from my Altima. I went ahead and ordered a new hanger online for about $16 and the issue hasn't returned. This might be worth trying on yours.
 
#4 ·
I appreciate the input and added information. They did replace the exhaust hangers as an attempt to resolve the issue. It did help with the vibration felt right under the arm rest and front seats but the constant droning is still very much present.

I have a ticket in with Nissan - once I hear back I'll update the thread. I feel however that this will be chalked up as a characteristic of the car.
 
#5 ·
For anyone who is interested, Nissan Canada got back to me via e-mail and pretty much said there is nothing they will do. They in-trust their Dealers to make the technical decisions and if they say all is good, then they trust their judgement.

So that is that. :(
 
#6 ·
Did the dealer tell you if there were any errors latched up in the error log? I had severe vibration/shudder and it turned out to be the Transmission Control Valve. Your car should operate very smoothly without any undue vibration or noise.

Sometimes you have to talk to the management of the dealership and sales management. Try to document the conversations. If that doesn't work then try talking to sales reps that are working with customers. Gently, calmly of course but let the sales rep. and customer know that you are unhappy with the car. Might work.
 
#7 ·
The Transmission Control Valve did not come up in conversations but I do believe they checked the logs. I'm not dis-crediting the dealership since they did make some repairs that ultimately resolved the majority of the vibration issues.

I guess the original complaint of severe vibration caused by the droning was resolved by changing those exhaust brackets. The issue however that remains is still that droning/shuttering at that 1800 RPM mark. That has never gone away.

I did speak to the Service Manager and he's the one that chalked it up as being normal. Something that will develop over time and Nissan is aware of it but it's classed as a normal characteristic. All conversations were done calmly - I never left upset but I'm disappointed that its left as is.

I appreciate the advice. Thanks!
 
#9 ·
So the funny thing to that is...

The Service Manager specifically said that this 'may' develop over time so the new ones will not have this issue. He's personally dealt with these complaints in the past and all of them were filed away as 'normal' behavior for a used car.
 
#10 ·
Ha I have this viabration in my 2016 with 10,000 miles on it I had the service manager drive it said it was normal but it don't feel normal but I also have that awful whining noise heater box creek and a flickering tack a Nissan rep was out last Friday I take in tomorrow and they are doing new cluster heater box and power steering pump but I haven't even started with the viabration
 
#12 ·
I already called the BBB but haven't sent the paper work back as I was waiting to see what happens with the whining noise. I laid into my Nissan arbation rep last Friday after we left the dealership with the car again in fixed and my dealer knew this rep was coming for almost a week and said you think it would have been logical to block and hour or two for this pump to make sure it fixes my problem cause now you just wasted my time my husbands time and the reps time since their seems to be no fix and my service manager knows this but when Nissan corp calls he tells them it was normal but he stated to me and my husband (oh btw is/was Nissan cerftifed tech at this dealer 4 years ago) that the hose is to small for the pump smh anyways the manager said it's the shocks and the ride of the car but I never noticed it before I thought maybe I was being picky because of everything else and on top of all this when I washed it the other I noticed a paint chip between the seem on the trunk that has rust!! And no way it a rock chip and the only thing in and out of my trunk has been groceries
 
#13 ·
I had this very same issue with my 2013 sv. They did searched and replaced lots of parts and never came up with something that fixed it. They swapped the alternator, the cat and flex pipe, swapped exhaust mounts, checked motor mounts and never found anything. They did came up to me as normal operations. I got fed with it and traded for a 2017 Maxima.
 
#15 ·
So I got this same sound issue at 1800 rpm. And only on low speeds and low accelerations. Dealership tells me its a broken weld on a heat shield and sound is produced due to resonance at that rpm. They quoted a $460 for this work but based on the comments here, I really don't think that it would solve the issue.
 
#16 ·
It likely won't. All the above issues in this thread sound remarkably like the same issues on Ford Focus cars, and tied to the engine mount design. If you only have one big mount on passenger side at upper nose of engine you are there. The intention is to let all engine vibration work the bottom of engine to not get out into chassis but it does anyway as the mounts have to be just perfect to stop vibration migration. Trouble being the mounts never stay in that condition. On Fords you change the mount to fix but it MUST be an OEM part, any other will vibrate just as bad with a new part.

When you blame exhaust hangers and heat shields you are blaming parts that simply react when the mount itself is failing to do its' job, The vibration is getting past it to go into other places that are sympathetic to then shake by themselves. Vibration at a certain low rpm range is a hallmark of that type vibration, the trans cannot do it as it cannot shake like the engine does. Your shield likely broke because it shook to begin with.

My Versa has a dongle weight built into the pass side engine mount and even that coming loose began to vibrate. I put it back with some semblance of the flexible mount it needs there and the vibration quit.

It is very popular now to hang the engine/trans assemblies in the cars now from above like swings on a kid's swingset, the entire thing can then swing and the trans then gets located to stop it but the engine nose stays free to 'vibrate the shake out'. It works as long as the mount is perfect but once the mount gets old the shaking begins and some mounts have to be almost dead new to stop it.

That method of engine hanging is faster on the assembly line and why they do it, and it sells far more parts too, VERY important now that the cars last to 300K to not sell as many cars now. The dealers then play stupid to either sell a whole list of parts or blow you off, depending on how loaded up the shop is that day. You have a car that shakes your face off and they tell you 'it's normal'.

If they redesigned to put mounts low on engine on both sides the problem is gone forever but they want the parts sales there now and you suffer for it. They do stuff like that all over the cars now to promote new parts sales, it's using the engineers now to make the cars generate more money rather than to make the cars 'better', they have no interest in that any longer

If you have the single engine mount on passenger side then change that and DON'T use aftermarket there, OEM only. Often they are hydraulic and Chinese copiers cannot build them in the quality that makes them work right. Believe me, I broke enough Ford ones apart to see why they couldn't do it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top