I've owned my 2008 LS for about a 2 years now and I finally found the rattle that was driving me crazy. Car has just over 78K miles and has been great. Except for this rattle.

Back story. It was temperature related. Temps got hot, rattle got worse. The location was in the center dash area. But I could never pin point the location.

Dealer looked at it. Could never find the location.

• Thought it was the dash. No.
• Thought it was under the dash. No.
• Maybe the dash clips? No.
• Thought it was the windshield. No
• Thought it was the sunroof, No
• Maybe rearview mirror. No.
• Maybe headliner. No.
• Sunroof track? No

I'd always think I found the location and it would always come back.

I finally got really angry and spent a weekend going after it. Turns out it was the front upper support bracket where the bracket meets the top sheet metal of the car. The adhesive would get warm and the entire bar would separate slightly from the upper roof and every little bump would make it rattle like crazy.

I ended up using a metal scraper and pushing as much foam and soft rubber as possible into the area.

The sound went away! Silence. Finally.

Here is what the sound was like.
IMG_0760.MOV

I finally found it!
IMG_1467.MOV

Picture of the area with foam.

 

Dang, nice work. Other members have found rattles in doors too from old adhesive failing. Makes me wonder what all these modern cars will be like in 10-20 years with all the body adhesives used in making them.

 

You da man!!!

 

Good find! So it's above the windshield? I have a rattle there too that I"m pretty sure is the vanity light.

 

Yes, above the windshield.

Had to remove the vanity light, front headliner bolts and the bracket, along with motor, that opens the sun roof (all fairly easy). Then I could really see the area I needed to work with.

There is a cross bar that runs from A pillar to A pillar and is glued to the roof. That is what was making the noise.