Help!!!!!! Rhythmic Clicking Sound

[FuNwaGoN]

Ok so here is the story....

I was driving to work this morning and had my window down and heard a LOUD Rythmic Clicking sound coming from the left rear of my car. At first I thought that since I live in a unfinished neighborhood that I had just picked up a rock or something. Then I thought that maybe I had caught one of the bags that I put in the car this morning in the door and that it was flapping against the car as I drove. At the first chance I could I got out and checked to see if there were any visual clues as to the problem. Well NOTHING:wtf: So I continued to drive in to work and once in the parking lot I got out and actually ran my hand all over the tire, NO ROCK OR ANYTHING At this point I was baffled as to what was making the sound. I tried as best I could(IN BUSINESS CLOTHES) to inspect underneath the car. I didn't see anything (bang)

I can't think of what this could be.... I am going to go drive it again at lunch and see if I can narrow it down or pin point the problem. I went ahead and called the Dealer and made an appointment for tomorrow. But i wanted to know if this is somehting that anyone else has experienced. I am not sure how long this noise has been there as it has been raining for like the last week or two here and been cold so the windows have been up and of course radio on. You can sort of hear it without the radio on and with the windows up. One thing is that it got the coldest it has been all year last night ( in the 30's) Kind of wondering if this is related to the bushing problems many of the MP3 owners are experiencing.

ANY AND ALL HELP OR COMMENTS IS APPRECIATED.....

btw the car is a 2002.5 and is only about 3 months old with 4k miles on it. Oh yeah and I live in NC so not like the temps are extreme or anything. The roads do suck really bad though, lots and lots of potholes.

Alright guys have at it and thanks in advance.

 

[1sty]

My MP3 does the same thing but its completely random.
I have dynamated every square inch of my trunk, doors and rear deck too. Its not a panel or anything easy.
Mine is actualy on the right rear and clicks about every 3-5 seconds.

 

[Todd]

It is Halloween. Maybe its a Gremlin or something!!!! Be carefull

 

[20ESGUY]

Try checking the rear hub bearings...when they start to go they'll usually start to click a little like a bad CV shaft. It generally won't make a screaching or grinding sound till they're bad, usually its just a bad spot in the race or a bumed up cage. If you jack the car up and spin the wheel listen for the sound, sometimes usuing a screwdriver as a stehescope helps. Pull on the tire horizontally and vertically, if theres some slop there i'd be willing to bet the bearing is the culprit.

 

[Kooldino]

Are you sure it's not coming from inside the car?

 

[1sty]

I believe it is

 

[FuNwaGoN]

Well I don't think it is coming from inside the car because when I had my window down as opposed to up it was louder. But I am not ruling it out. I am going to go on a nice long test drive and search for the problem.

Boy if it is the wheel bearings then Mazda has some issues. 4000 miles on a new car and the bearings are already bad... not good. I will give you guys an update in a few hours after I get back from lunch. Thanks for the quick responses I got from you guys. At least now I have a few more things to check.

 

[Todd]

If we dont hear back from you, we will assume that it was gremlins

 

[FuNwaGoN]

Well It was either gremlins or something else unexplainable but it is not doing it anymore It was still doing it when I puled into my parking space this morning but when I went out during luch and drove it, I didn't hear the noise 1 time. I was thinking this could be cold related .

Several guys in the colder climates (i.e. canada) have had similiar issues when it gets cold with their MP3's bushings and struts and such. This morning as stated above was the coldest it has been here in NC...39 degrees.... up to about 60 degrees at lunch

Supposd to drop back down sometime next week as far a temp goes so we will just wait and see if the clicking comes back.

Thank you to everyone that posted help on this topic. Happy Halloween to you all

 

[SilverProtege5]

I have that same type of noise but it ony started after i put my Eibachs on.

I was able to tell that the rear bumper on the pass does make a tapping sound whenever i shake it a little, but i fixed that and the noise is still there. I was afarid that i was the only one with this problem.

 

[turbo740]

Noises

Just so everyone doesn't feel like THEY have the only noisy P5...the shocks on mine seem to make a noise on compression and the engine has that growling "marble noise" that these cars are apparently pretty famous for. But I've got Mobil1 in the crankcase just for good measure. (redp5)

Come to think of it, there's a weird rattle under my Jetta 1.8T, too. Maybe it's all in my head!