1997 Peterbilt 379 clicking sound while driving

Big Road Skateboard · Sep 16, 2026

Mchavez303 said: ↑

So guys I did everything and checked everything you guys mentioned and nothing. But last night working I saw another Peterbilt driver and asked him if he’s ever dealt with something like this too and told me to check the mechanical trip recorder. I held my fingers to it while driving and sure enough everytime time it goes up a number it clicks super loud and could feel it too. He said his was doing the same thing and eventually stopped working but the noise stopped too. So thanks for the input with other ideas, I’ll probably look into lubing it up somehow see if it changes if not try to replace it.
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Hahaha. That's funny

Lazer · Sep 16, 2026

Mchavez303 said: ↑

So guys I did everything and checked everything you guys mentioned and nothing. But last night working I saw another Peterbilt driver and asked him if he’s ever dealt with something like this too and told me to check the mechanical trip recorder. I held my fingers to it while driving and sure enough everytime time it goes up a number it clicks super loud and could feel it too. He said his was doing the same thing and eventually stopped working but the noise stopped too. So thanks for the input with other ideas, I’ll probably look into lubing it up somehow see if it changes if not try to replace it.
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That’s why I asked if the frequency of the clicking sound increased with increasing ground speed. The trip odometer clicking will click faster, the faster you are driving. I experienced the same issue years ago, with Navistar trucks that had mechanical odometers.

Mchavez303 · Sep 16, 2026

Lazer said: ↑

That’s why I asked if the frequency of the clicking sound increased with increasing ground speed. The trip odometer clicking will click faster, the faster you are driving. I experienced the same issue years ago, with Navistar trucks that had mechanical odometers.
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Ahh yes that makes sense! No wonder it wouldn’t do it when truck was stopped. Only reason why I thought it was electrical was because I had messed around with the steering wheel and knew about the horn wire there. Thing was driving me crazy couldn’t figure it out.

wore out · Sep 16, 2026

That is funny. Something I’ve never seen for sure

SmallPackage · Sep 16, 2026

I replaced the original Stewart Warner hour counter in my ‘67 that runs as long as the PT fuel shutoff solenoid is on with the ignition switch. Regardless of whether the engine is running or not. It clicks with every rolling number too. Cant really hear it much unless the engine is off. But even then It didn't dawn on me this time.

bad-luck · Sep 17, 2026

Mchavez303 said: ↑

So guys I did everything and checked everything you guys mentioned and nothing. But last night working I saw another Peterbilt driver and asked him if he’s ever dealt with something like this too and told me to check the mechanical trip recorder. I held my fingers to it while driving and sure enough everytime time it goes up a number it clicks super loud and could feel it too. He said his was doing the same thing and eventually stopped working but the noise stopped too. So thanks for the input with other ideas, I’ll probably look into lubing it up somehow see if it changes if not try to replace it.
Click to expand...

My hearing is so bad from being around trucks my whole life, I probably would never have heard it in the first place.

Diesel Dave · Sep 23, 2026

So that’s what it was…… my former 1994 379 had the same issue. Sounded like a relay. Every thing worked so I never bothered with it.

Mchavez303 · Sep 23, 2026

Diesel Dave said: ↑

So that’s what it was…… my former 1994 379 had the same issue. Sounded like a relay. Every thing worked so I never bothered with it.
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Thing was driving me crazy, I had swapped out a few relays with new ones and a few fuses just to rule them out and inspected every wire by the steering column inside the cab incase I had messed something up when swapping out the steering wheel but sure enough it was just the trip recorder clicking the whole time.

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