Need advice on noise from wheel well area

I have a 96 Nissan Sentra. For the past month or so, I have been having a noise coming from the passenger side wheel well area. It sounds like a piece of plastic is flapping rapidly in the wind. The sound is a rapid "tap, tap, tap" sound. It doesn't have the deeper sound I associate with problems with car components. I have tried tightening down the plastic pieces in the wheel well area to no effect. Also, I recently had my right wheel checked for balance and found no difference. I would appreciate some suggestions on what else I might check.

Al Kondo

Reply to
Al Kondo
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I had a similar sound in the right front wheel area on my 97 nissan PU, most noticeable when making a left turn. It turns out it was not the wheel well, but the heater plenum had water in it and the heater fan was hitting the water. I drained it and cleaned the plenum drain, and the noise disappeared.

Reply to
Bill Schnakenberg

Had same problem with my Primera. Was a Shock Absorber causing the tapping. Had both rear shocks replaced no more tapping.

Pete Patterson

Reply to
Pete Patterson

It was suggested that perhaps my problem may be bad shocks. How do you diagnosis this as a problem??

Al Kondo

Reply to
Al Kondo

I was told that a small fluid loss was causing some sort of valve within the shock making the rattle. I only had the rattle when I drove the car by myself. When I had passengers the tapping stopped due to the shock compressing more with the extra weight. A bad shock can affect the cars stability while being driven and cause excessive tyre wear.There are others on this news group that can explain why a bad shock can be trouble, as it was discussed not that long ago. So hopefully they will reply to your query.

Pete Patterson

Reply to
Pete Patterson

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