I know that we have discussed this before but I can not fine the thread. I have a clicking (sounds like two pieces of hard plastic hitting together) coming from the rear set area. I checked all the obvious places but found nothing.

Any help?

 

You sure its not from the passenger seat? I'm still arguing with lexus about my rattling passenger seat which sounds exactly like two pieces of plastic rubbing together...

 

I checked the passenger seat. With the seat back is forward, I still have the noise . Also, the clicking is still there when there is a passenger in the seat. Both of which were recommended checks for noise in the passenger seat. It seems to be coming from behind the back seat but I can not find anything lose in trunk or the roof mechanism

 

Hi David,

Yes you're right, my seat noise doesn't happen when there is someone sitting in the passengers seat. This other noise, does it happen with the top up, down or both?

George

 

It is hard to tell if I have the noise with then top down. It is not so pronounced as to be heard over the wind but with the top up it seems to be more distinct over any little bump.

 

I had a situation once where one of those little straps that keep the seatbelts from flapping was loose and flapping. There are four of them, two on the back upper back and two on the front upper outside. They're magnetic catches but sometimes don't. The other easy possibility is a seat belt metal tab flapping against a buckle or against one of the those metal catches.

Could it be any of these things?

George

 

oh so i am not alone. i have that same problem too, and it's from the pessenger rear. i cant' locate it yet. i was driving and had my wife looked behind and tried to find it but still couldn't locate it. we thought about the seat belt tap in the back and doesn't look like so. still searching

it's not in the front coz' i have a way worse rattle in the front on the wood trim on the door, that's another story

anything else that we can look at? its pretty annoying sometimes

 

Carpe Diem
The seatbelts straps were one of the first things I checked. I am still looking. The drive to work today the noise was the worse as it has ever been.

Thanks for the help we’ll figure this out yet.

 

It's really amazing how these noises develop and seem to be coming from one place when they're really generated someplace else. I think this is a combination of the funny acoustics inside the car and the fact that most of us have two working ears. Here are three cases in point.

In my SC430, I have this funny little springy sounding "boing" noise when I turn off the switch. I swore it was coming from the climate control console and tried for three days to find it without sucess. I finally located it in the dome light/garage door opener panel overhead. I'll get that fixed the next time the car goes in to the dealer.

In my daily driver Volvo, I had this funny vibration that I swore was coming from under the dash on the passenger's side. It turned out to be a loose part in the sun roof.

Then there's the original passenger's seat creaking which I swore was the door panel.

In the last case, I found out the truth by using the seat to support myself while reaching across to try to press on the door panel. Pressing on the seat changed the noise. Pressing on the door panel did nothing. I didn't feel so fooled by this one since the parts are roughly in line to my right ear.

The other two I found with the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels. Using this "earphone" in one ear while plugging the other, allows you to focus on the true direction and ultimtely the source of the racket. So Rominl, if you haven't already done so you should equip you wife with this tool and David should take one along (with an ear plug or piece of cotton so he can keep one hand safely on the wheel) on his next drive to work.

Hope this helps.

George

 

thanks for the info george. guess i just hvae to do some more testing here and there inside the car (as if there are a lot of space @_@) and see if i can locate the noise! i defintely want to find it before i take the car in, so i can just tell them where it is

 

FINALLY!!! Somebody with the same noise as mine.

Mine was clearly coming from the back (left rear) of the car, and I was right, but not from the inside of the car. I can't still pinpoint exactly where the noise comes from. Initially I found out the plastic cover that goes right on the pivot point of the roof (need to open the trunk) was loose, and when I snap it in place the noise went away. Only to come back again... and yes, it's two pieces of hard plastic rubbing against each other. I've gone to the trunk twice more when the noise has come back, and both times it quieted down, but later came back.
Sooooo, there's something there, but can't pinpoint it accurately. And the noise comes back after a few days without ever opening the roof (haven't done that in a while due to cold weather).

So let's find it boys. It's still not driving me nuts because I can't hear it with the stereo on, so I really haven't devoted much time trying to find it other than the above attempts, but I'd like to put an end to it. I'd NEVER let the dealer drive the crap out of my car, climb all over my back seat and trunk, just to be on the same boat as we're now, but if you are, please let us know what they found. It's something stupid, and a strategically placed piece of self-adhesive rubber would permanently fix it. We just need to know WHERE. Once it's found, the solution usually becomes a TSB, where a dealer knows exactly what to do. It's until THAT point when I consider taking my car in. As a guinea pig? No way. Did that with my GS4 with the shimmy, and until a TSB came out 2 years later, the stupid problem was fixed. Dealer messed around with my car countless times, with no fix. Learned my lesson.

 

ah this is interesting, let's try to find it then. i agree it's not annoying me at all, if any thing the wood trim rattle i have is way worse. but i guess our cars are just way too stupidly quiet that i am hearing everything in the car.....

i know a dealership very well, hopefully they can help out

 

ok.... finally i found the problem for the rattling in my car.... i asked my wife to drive the car on the freeway and i was in the pesenger seat doing weird posture to figure out the rattle.

my frist one, as stated before, is the wood trim on the pesenger side door, it's towards the back of the door (close to the outside door handle). it happens when there is a deep base. i press on the wood and it stops. press on any where else and it still occurs. rattle #1 down.

the second rattle is more like a plastic and plastic squeaking sound. it's from the pessenger rear. it's hard to pinpoint coz' obviously i couldn't sit in the back without killing myself. but i found out that the noise is from the plastic panel where the seat beat is coming out from. and the location is right above the rear speaker.

as the car drives, i just keep on hearing the squeaking sound. if i press on the panel right above the speaker, it stops. i think some of the clips inside must be bad or something.

time for warranty

 

I removed that panel when I installed some lines into the trunk. That rear panel is held by 3 plastic pop out pieces along the door pillar- a screw located behind the upper seatbelt mount-2 screws along the roof pivot and 3 screws behind the rear backrest.
My think is that is probably a bad pop out. These pieces slide off the panel if not installed correctly. Hope that helps

Weny

 

Hey Romini, you had me confused at first, but realized you were talking about the FRONT seatbelt mount. I know my plastic to plastic rattle is coming from the roof pivot area, so I think you might have nailed it. Next question for you: does the rattle stop if you press that part anywhere?
Now to you Weny. Buddy, some pics would be PERFECT, but I suspect you didn't take any while doing your project. Could it be possible for you to take a pic of that area now, and use red arrows where approximately those pop-outs would be? How about a brief description of the procedure how to get to that part?
To be honest, I'll wait until somebody, either thru a dealer or himself, eliminates the problem. Then we all be sure where the problem lies. When the rattle starts to drive me nuts, I'll think if I tackle the job (most likely), or the dealer. I hope to have a service manual by then.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

JC