rattle found, fixed

[blender]

I'll post this so that some other member searching for 'rattle' might see it and save some hours of detective work.

Car developed an intermittent but worsening rattle over certain kinds of bumps, noise was two or three quick 'thunks', not particularly loud. Appeared to be coming from left front.

I pulled the LF wheel and set about examining the wheel well liner. It produces lots of hollow thudding noises when you tap on it. I set about backing the screws out, wedging a bit of thin cushion material behind them (I used bits of rubberized safety material for stair treads- cheap, cuts easily, durable, adhesive backed) And reinstalled all the screws. I faffed around with the removable panels for a bit to make sure they were secure. Eventually I determined the problem was NOT with the wheel well liner. Next, I started in on the suspension components, tugging on everything and twisting every bolt (by hand) to check for any obvious looseness.

Turns out the cross-member (or "front under-body reinforcement plate") had two of its left bolts loose. The plate was slapping around when certain bumps would make it oscillate, hence the noise. The bolts had not yet backed all the way out, thankfully, so I pulled them, inspected them, hit them with red locktite, and re-torqued them to factory spec of 59Nm. Problem solved.

Attachment 554184

[inTgr8r]

good info, thanks

[krnnerdboy]

good detective work rob! I'll be checking mine later

[Rick Hunter]

Praytell... are you referring to bolts that hold up item#1 in the picture?

[blender]

Hello Rick -
No - it was the structural Reinforcement plate - I added a diagram to the original post for clarity.


regards.

RC.

Originally Posted by Rick Hunter

Praytell... are you referring to bolts that hold up item#1 in the picture?