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AWD Juke was towed by company with a wheel lift tow truck

1.9K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  pboglio  
#1 ·
My Juke overheated a couple weeks ago. We called the insurance company because we have free towing with it, and they sent a company that showed up with a wheel lift tow truck. It never occured to me that the car is an awd and shouldnt be towed like that. To make matters worse, the car was actually in AWD mode. I am thinking the tow truck driver knew he messed up at some point during the tow because he was WAY behind me at one point, then in the neighborhood, he came flying up behind me, like 50 in a 30. He pulls up to the house, never gets out of the truck, drops it, hands me the keys through the window, and takes off pretty fast.
I finish the overheat repair today, it was a bad fan, and take it for a test drive. The noise coming from the back of the car is horrific. Only when giving it a good deal of throttle. I turned off the awd, and the noise went away. Continued on my test drive, and no other problems. Came home a half hour later, tried awd, same noise. I am going to put in a claim with the insurance company on Monday, but what repairs should I expect the car to need? I dont want to agree to certain repairs, when they wont be the total fix. Thank you.
 
#2 ·
Unless the car is running or fully powered on, you can tow it with the button in AWD....it operates using an electromagnet coupler. So, unless the magnet is powered, it's just 2wd. Your issue is not from the tow.

When the coupler is off, the driveshaft is disconnected from the rear wheels. This is how we tune AWD cars on FWD dynos. Driveshaft spins at the rate it should, but it's completely detached from the rear wheels.
 
#5 ·
Obviously the overheated systems had nothing to do with it.
 
#6 ·
Not systems, just coolant due to fan not working. I have not seen an overheated engine damage any rear components. If what religion is saying is true, then why does all the Nissan literature say "1. 4WD/AWD vehicles equipped with Automatic Transmission (including CVT and Hybrid powertrain):  DO NOT Flat Tow – doing so will damage internal transmission components.  DO NOT use a tow dolly – doing so will damage drivetrain components.
 
#8 ·
Ah yes. The Nissan manual has never been wrong. Ever. lol Best of luck to you. I hope you get it fixed.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Just checked it.....rear wheels spin the prop-shaft with the vehicle un-powered. That would not be good for the rear diff clutch-packs, DNR clutch, or the push-belt if dolly towed. I flat bed towed mine when the CVT failed, that's just second nature to me having owned AWD vehicles but I've waved off a dolly truck one time and waited for the flat bed to come. OP, no doubt I believe what your saying. It almost sounds like the rear differential is damaged but I would not rule out the CVT either. I'd file the insurance claim and make sure the tow truck is liable otherwise your insurance bill is going to skyrocket. The Nissan service manual is correct about how to tow an AWD.
 
#10 ·
When the rear wheels are spun whilst the front is held still, there is no resistance. When lifted off the ground and you spin the fronts, yes it will spin all four due to how the coupler works, but as soon as your grab a rear wheel the driveshaft will spin and the rears will not. Again. Myself and dozens of others dyno AWD cars on 2wd dynos, which is waaaaaaay more driveshaft speed than the rear diff will see towing the car with the rear wheels on the ground.

If spinning one without spinning the other was bad for the vehicle then rear diffs would be blowing up all the time. If the car is in 2wd mode and you spin the fronts in snow or wet conditions, by your argument, this should damage the rear diff.
 
#11 ·
CVT and engine are removed, it's connected to nothing. The rear wheels are engaged to the prop shaft. There will always be clutch drag to some extent, they are closely fitted. I can't measure the clutch drag without clamping the prop shaft and spinning the wheel via the center axle nut. That isn't even a debate, I can physically rotate the prop shaft with the wheel spinning. How much of this clutch drag would affect the rear differential I don't know as I'm not silly enough to dolly tow an AWD and I don't intend to get my advice from the internet. Whether the clutches have ZERO drag, some drag, or full clamp load I cannot verify and don't care too. Try to dolly tow an AWD/CVT and provide feedback if there is no risk. I have no intention of testing that out myself.

Could be it being lifted the rear diff fluid allowed the clutches to run dry due to the tilt angle of the diff sump, again there is going to be some relative speed differential and drag. There is something to this story regardless. Nissan knew this and clearly stated not to dolly tow it.
 
#12 ·
I dollied my awd nismo from cypress texas to berkley ma. And again. A lot of awd jukes have been 2wd dynoed. Wheel speeds get well over 100mph. Which means the driveshaft does too. With the rear wheels stopped. Which, again, is WAY more stress and load than towing on a dolly will have on a rear axle with a stopped driveshaft. So again, you speak without real world experience with this specific vehicle.

I have also flat towed 2 awd jukes. Not long distances, but i have done it. With no damage to those drivetrains.

if the OP’s rear diff was damaged during the tow, then either the key was left on, with the rear coupler engaged, or some other damage related to a different component happened from either a hard impact at the upwards angle that tweaked something. Without hearing the noise or feeling the issue, it’s purely speculation. The fact that it was being driven around in awd mode is concerning, as these rear diffs wear out ridiculously fast when left in awd mode. As do the couplers. More common issue in the same gen rogues, but i have seen it in a fair number of jukes at this point. Especially if the diff fluid is never services, which it never is.
 
#13 · (Edited)
OP has a game plan, I'd do almost exactly what he's doing. Factory recommendation is documented. I don't drive dynos. Dynos are not the real world. All my failures were never on a dyno and never would be though I'm not against them for tuning. I can't disprove a negative because I tow on a flat bed and I ran on a 2-roller linked AWD dyno. The AWD rear differential get's hot, no arguement. There is clutch drag when the vehicle is off, which I proved already though it's small. I can measure the drag torque directly but I suspect it would be low but not zero. A rolling FWD mode has no significant slippage front-rear as there is no rpm delta between the wheels. FWD Dyno is a short duration event and again the rear load would only be the clutch drag. If you towed with the rear wheels down at highway speeds and nothing happened, that's another data-point. Still wouldn't convince me to attempt it as the factory recommends against it.
 
#14 ·
Fwd dyno also doesn't rotate the rear against each other like towing while turning would. Given that there is side to side bias in the rear diff, I would think that they would very much be spinning against each other. Unlike a stationary dyno.

It baffles me to hear the argument that running fwd with a fully stationary rear is the same as dragging the rotating rear while active with a stationary front. Sure, there is 1 single point of contact that is shared with both situations, but the rest of the components are undergoing completely different conditions.

I'm with the OP on this one as well. Always flat tow an awd.
 
#15 ·
Yep, baffling. This is precisely why I don't much trust tow companies or shops for that matter, see below. I've seen and heard enough. Owner has to be aware of what the factory recommendations are, that is the owner responsibility but I'd think also the tow driver to a certain extent. Being an AWD owner of many vehicles I'm just programmed to never allow anything but a flatbed near my vehicles. Regardless of everything good on a FWD dyno or towing 2,000 miles across the country with a lifted tow not in a million years is that happening with my vehicles. What the root cause is I'd be curious to know. I most definitely would have a look thru the overfill plug on the rear diff with a boroscope before I gave up the vehicle for a repair. I went thru something similar with an incompetent body shop and they fragged a perfectly good transmission by not refilling the oil. I took the hit on that for not proving they failed to refill the sump, never will know. Stop driving that vehicle immediately though. I'd fight this one.
 
#16 ·