What's that noise?

2021 Venture w/74k miles. Over the past few weeks, when going from D to R or vice versa, I've noticed a slightly metallic "chunk" sound a second or two after I start rolling. Haven't checked to see if it's present in 4WD or not. Mostly noticing in the driveway or parking lots. I can't tell where it's coming from, and it doesn't happen every time.

Anyone experience this? Thoughts on what it could be?

 

Do you also feel kind of a "thud" with it?
Have you had the front end aligned in the past little while?

 

Are you running SPC upper control arms by chance? Ive heard others describe a similar noise and it ended up being their upper ball joints, but they had SPC uppers

 

Not really feeling anything when I hear it. Haven't had alignment done as alignment passed at drive-thru inspection with nothing to note at last dealer oil change. (Free oil changes for life from dealer, in case anyone is wondering why I'm still going to the dealer for those!)

 

Stock suspension. My first thought was ball joints, too. Not feeling anything in the steering wheel at all when hearing it, and no play in steering. I'm assuming that'd be noticeable there?

 

Yeah it’d probably be noticeable thru the steering wheel.

is there any rotational squeaking when taking off at low speeds? Universal joints might also be something to check. Ive had those pop and make noises before. The proper way to check this is to remove the driveshaft and check for play at each joint. It can be difficult to check with it on the vehicle which is why i recommend removing it to check

 

Dang. Easy solo job? Is that typical at only 74k miles?

 

I notice a click around the steering column (normal) when setting off and crossing some low speed threshold only after starting the engine, could it be that?

 

I don't think so. I've only started noticing it lately sounds more like underneath the vehicle.

 

Not hard, it should be easily doable alone. They can go bad at any time tbh. If the little seals fail and start letting in moisture and contaminents, that can kill them pretty quickly. Also ive noticed the greasable units seem to last much longer if you maintain them. My tacoma had nongreasable units from the factory and i had to swap them to greasable ones bc they kept failing on me.

 

Assuming you've owned it since new, have you regularly greased the drive shaft (propeller shaft) joints? Oops, I see BassAckwards mentioned this.

 

Thanks. I'll look into this a bit more. Sounds kinda seems like it's coming from that area. I'll do more investigating. Appreciate the direction.

 

Was greased by dealer at one of the regular mileage service intervals, I believe. I'll have to check into it.

 

Not sure where you got your diagram, but the 5th gen has 6 total grease zerks on the drive shafts, not 8.

 

My 2019 is the first vehicle I've owned that I haven't worked on. So I ask the dealership to grease those just about every oil change. My reason is that I've never seen one fail from too much lube. They never charge me extra for this either.

 

Good catch. I'm not sure what gen this is for. I think I got the pic years ago on another forum. Looks like a pic from an owners manual with additions. Gives the idea, anyway.