Recently I've noticed when the car is facing uphill, I put the car in reverse gear (AT) and apply the brake, the car will make strange loud clicking sounds. It doesn't do it when the gear is in forward though. I can't wrap my head around this...my first thought is that this has to do with the brake, but this morning when the car is cold and it didn't make the sound.

Anyone seen this before? Thank you so much!
I plan to do some inspection before taking it to the shop, any pointers would be great.

*When I open the hatch and put my hand in the left corner of the cargo bay, I can feel the vibration coming through.
I also have a class I hitch installed for my bycicles.

sound clip here:

 

How many times has this happened? I have had this before in a 2011 Ford Ranger. That transmission is those are junk to begin with, but when after it was driven for a while, and I put it in reverse, it would violently shake and make that noise. Really had nothing to do with a left rear wheel or uphill, it definitely is the rear differential freaking out. Not sure what the cause is, but it only happened a handful of times and sparatic at that. Plus the thing has like not even 15,000 miles on it, so it doesn't need fluid or anything. Yours might though. Check your fluid level.

I can't quite think of what your situation could be except for that your reverse is not happy at all and that, being an automatic, maybe a solenoid is clogged or a syncro is out or something. It's hard to tell just from what you have here. I wouldn't put it past your reverse gear though, that's probably it. And that would be why it doesn't happen when it's cold. Keep us updated. Maybe someone else has personally experienced it on their automatic tC

 

Thanks @criminaltc.

It doesn't happen all that often, I've only hear it twice (both uphill with gear in reverse, brake on full, car stationary) recently.

not a car person but my tC is FWD, so I'm assuming that there isn't that much parts at the rear. I'm pretty certain the sound/vibration is coming from that corner though...

 

Haha. I know your tC is front wheel drive, mine is too. I just also have a brand new Ranger.

Right. Well, everything in these cars are independent. So a specific left rear rattle is probably specifically a left rear rattle. However, if the transmission were to shake, that shake would carry throughout the vehicle, but it would still be more promenant in the front. I wasn't mentioning my rear differential because maybe yours was shaking too. You don't have one. I was just saying something similar could be going on your differential in the front and rattling the back. So have you tested this with two people? Have a person apply the brake and you go by the left rear and hear and look around in there. I feel like if you were to remove your wheel and jack it up so you could really look around and feel around, that wouldn't give you the same result since it's off the ground. You could try I guess. But first, you have to get up in there while it is rattling and check it out. I'm going with transmission, not brakes, but it is hard to tell. I mean, that sound in your clip doesn't sound like brakes. I thought maybe your exhaust was rattling and hitting the under body somewhere, but that's your right side in the rear, but again, if something's rattling up front like an exhaust, it will carry through to the back since it is also connected to the back. I don't know man. Check it out first, take it in second.

 

Thanks...I did have someone step on the brake and I inspected the area. It was dark so I can't really see much. I'm hoping that it's just something loose but it seems a bit too loud to be that...will update when I find out more about it.

 

Found out it's the oval part in the middle that's vibrating...when I grab onto it the sound goes away, though I'm not sure if it means that it needs to be replaced because it's not holding the tension, or that something's hitting my hitch, in the case I might need to put some buffer to damp the sound...

 

I would check for woodpeckers.