09' 7AT Rattle/Grind noise 1st to 2nd gear. Please help.
There is what seems to be a mechanical/metallic rattle coming from the front end almost like it’s coming from under the hood. This issue is very intermittent, and only happens when going from 1st to 2nd gear starting from a complete stop. Also, it only happens when I barely give it gas. Kind of like when I am driving very conservatively (Babying the car). If I get on the throttle even moderately it doesn’t happen, or hasn’t happened yet. When I first noticed this issue it was just a rattle noise with no feel of lost power. Now it seems to be a bit louder (at times) and sometimes I can tell there is loss of power (Like a possible gear slip).
In researching this issue I was starting to think it was the VDC that was causing it. However, I ran the car for about a week with the VDC off and I was able to reproduce the issue. I have taken the car to the Nissan Dealership twice for this, and they have had the car for several days at a time. They said that they cannot reproduce the issue. The car has 38K mi, all maintenance is up to date and done by Nissan. Also, the VDC off and slip indicator have come on at the same time twice with no action from the driver. When this happened those two lights will stay illuminated until the car is powered off and back on.
Has anyone else had this issue or do you know of a better way to pinpoint what's causing this? I purchased an extended warranty from Nissan when I bought the car back in January (31K mi). I really would like to have some more ammo when I bring it back to Nissan. I have attached an audio clip of the noise for reference. The noise is about 5-6 seconds into the clip.
Thanks,
P.S. Sorry the post was so long...
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