Repaired a rattle...

[STS Scott]

Here is a little story that might help someone down the road...

There used to be a metalic rattle coming from (what I thought to be) the front passanger door, and I went to tackle it today. After banging around at the door, from everywhich angle, I could not reproduce the darn thing. My girlfriend narrowed it down to the "speaker region" while driving (which was the only time it was present, when going over bumps).

So, returning to the driveway, I planned on doing surgery to the door, to try and find any loose, small metal objects that could be the perpetrators for "disurbing the peace" while driving.

By chance, while re-adjusting myself (for clarification, re positioning my body! lol), I bumped into the under-dash-board trim piece, and low and behold... The rattle was revealed!

Turns out, two screws were missing (from the car that is!) that held up the black plasic shroud, and the little metal clips that they would have been compressing were loosly resting there, free to jar around, and create noise. There are three screws in total, and I have no idea how two of them went missing. However, they are replaced now, and all is quiet.

I hope this experience is of value to someone else one day!

[Dasher]

Reminds me of a rattle I had in a 1989 Olds Cutlass International. It was driving me crazy and the dealer couldn't find it. They finally said it was something in the strut and they had to order a part.

I did not believe it was in the strut so, while they were ordering, I went searching. I used sponge rubber and dampened everything under the hood that moved and still couldn't find it.

I went back and tried again and found it in the secondary hood latach. I took a pair of pliers and bent it a quarter of an inch and no more rattle. I had fun going back to the dealer and showing where it was.

Actually, the joke was on me because, while searching, I removed the strut cover and decided to go for a drive to see if the strut was really rattling. Fortunately,I heard the rattle before I went ten feet! I didn't realize that the strut cover heldl the strut piston in place! (If you haven't guessed, I'm not a mechanic.)

Of course it was extended right up to the hood. If I had gone over a bump it probably would have put a dent in the hood.

I had no idea how to push it down and, any of my friends who might have an idea were unavailable. After thinking about it for awhile, I decided to jack the car up. Well, the piston went back in place and I've never taken off one of those covers again! Naturally, I didn't tell the dealer that part of the story.

It's OK. Go ahead and laugh.

[Maximln]

I had a 90 Deville that had the most annoying rattle/noise in the passenger side rear door. For over a year, that noise bugged the heck out of me and I couldn't figure out what it was. I sat in the back seat while someone else was driving and tried hitting every area in the rear compartment, trying to isolate it. I took the door completely off as well as all the rear sail panel trim, trying to locate it. I would usually give up and then after a few months, it would really begin to annoy me again and I would start all over only to give up again. I took the car to several body shops and they couldn't find the problem either. Finally, I was staying with a friend in another town and for some reason, decided to tackle the problem again. I hit up a few shops and one of them finally found the problem. When the rear door was open, there was a little black plastic ventilator where exterior air entered the rear compartment that had broken. When the door was open and you could see it, it looked fine. You couldn't tell there was a problem. What was happening, once you got enough speed and enough air was going through the plastic vent, the plastic vent begin vibrating against the metal of the car creating that annoying noise. I felt like screaming for joy!!! It had been such a constant annoyance, taking away the pleasure of driving the car but after ordering a new one (I had taped it down temporarily) it really was a joy to drive!

Max