Dash rattle

The entire dash is incredibly easy to take apart, if you're so inclined.

I did so, in order to put in my Lockpick. I did this with a friend, a couple hours away. On the drive home I heard not so much of a rattle as a buzz. Aw, crap, I'll have to take the dash apart and figure that out. I was going through our install in my mind on the drive home--but as I turned down my street I realized that this buzzing was coming from my garage door opener that's clipped to the visor.

Never overlook the obvious.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fairclge @ Apr 6 2007, 06:14 AM) [snapback]418729[/snapback]</div>

Also make sure that the shelf in the upper glove compartment (where I keep my gloves!) is properly seated. It slides on nice and firm if you do it right.

 

That's correct. The glovebox itself has small sliders that slide *into* the tray. It's easy to mistake those sliders for being small shelves, onto which the tray sits. They're not shelves. The tray has grooves that those slide into.

 

I've encountered this as well. It's intermittent with my Prius - even driving over bumpy roads. Sometimes it occurs, sometimes not. It's definitely not the upper glovebox shelf (I took that out one day and the rattle still occurred). I don't believe it's the contents of the lower glovebox either (again, I emptied it out, still got the rattle). I've been putting off taking the car into the dealership since I wanted to search through PriusChat and see if there were any fixes I could attempt first. I'm a bit irked this came up but I remember reading about these rattles well before I got my Prius so I wasn't too surprised.

 

Rattling in the Prius seems to be caused by the plastic rubbing against plastic. I too noticed what appeared to be a rattles coming from the dash. Recently I installed an MP3 player aux connection. Before I reassembled the dash parts I added thin felt across all the edges which came in contact with other pieces. I use Black RTV to glue the felt on. Not only did the rattles go away the dash fit tighter.
After the dash I noticed rattling coming from the doors. I pulled the door panels and RTV'd all the plastic snaps into place to stop them from moving. I quickly re-assembled the doors let stand overnight and Presto no more rattles. After a couple of weeks I noticed another rattle coming from the dash area again. As you may be aware finding rattles is very frustrating. This is due to the interior design which transmits sound everywhere (sort of like Surround sound).
To locate pesky rattles try a short piece of hose (24"), place against your ear and scan with the other end. You will be able to identify where the rattle is actually coming from. It really works, I was able to Id a rattle which suddenly appeared. It turned out to be the Visor mirror slide cover rattling from being left half open.
Don't give up on your Rattles.
I am currently working on solving the window rattling many have reported when the windows are partially open.
Will advise in the near future.
Mouse 1

 

Another easily overlooked rattle, fairclge, is glasses in the overhead bin. I had a rattle that drove me crazy, then it got sunny and the rattle went away...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Apr 7 2007, 03:58 AM) [snapback]419303[/snapback]</div>

Same issue here. It drove me ape for about 5 minutes.

And then another one popped up.

It seems the extra wheel nut and its lock were not
getting along in the upper glove tray. :angry:

They're friends again.

I would say remove the obvious before taking it apart or in.

Are rattles covered by warranty or not? Does anyone know?

 

Mine is in the center of the dash above the mfd. Put pressure on the dash and it goes away. Think its time for the felt trick.

 

Just this week I noticed a small buzz coming from the left front of the dash. It only did it on one outting so far. Otherwise the car is VERY quiet. How does the dash come apart? According to the posts it is very easy. If this buzz comes back I would like to put felt under it.

 

I had the exact same problem on my '06. About 4 months after I bought it I developed a rattle usually on bumpy roads. I took in in to the dealer. They completely dismantled the dash (scratching up my radio/CD player in the process) and added felt padding somewhere. This alleviated 90% of the noise. As my car was nearing its 1 year anniversary with me the noise came back in full force. It was louder than my music (which is loud) and it did not matter if it was on a bumpy or smooth road, or cold or hot. I took it back in and I suggested to the service guy to stuff the padding between the windshield and the dash since he said there was nothing they could do.

This worked. I've had it for 2 days and it has been quiet. NOW my problem is that I have a refection from the speedometer on my windshield that is in my direct line of vision. I don't know if it has always been there and I've just now noticed with no noise to occupy my attention, or if it is due to the corrective measures on my dash! Any ideas?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sane_N_Ohio @ Apr 14 2007, 07:44 PM) [snapback]423463[/snapback]</div>

Welcome to PriusChat, Sane_N_Ohio at least publicly. The actual speedo is located down in the dash and shines up on a mirror that you look at. It's likely that the glare has always been there, but maybe the dash position changed with the work they did.

Get some black felt and put it on the dash between you and the speedo. Slowly slide it toward the speedo. At some point, before you cover the speedo and can't see it any more, you will have blocked the glare shooting up onto the windshield. Note the position of the felt (easier to do when looking down through the windshield from the outside). Now you can cut a thin strip of the felt and stick it to the dash with peelable double-stick poster tape. The windshield glare should be gone.

 

I took my car to dealer ('06) and dealer installed something called Noise Kit. FP-Number 08-231-00801. Dealer said something didn't snap in place behind MFD area so he pushed that thing(sorry, didn't remember name) in place and then put noise kit in.

Dealer won't fix coolant transfer pump noise or the TSB about brake thing even though he hears some weird noise from right brake when I step on it while parked. oh well. time to find another dealer before my warranty expires.

 

I bought my Prius yesterday, 2005 White Package #6, and detected a rattle in the center of the dash coming from the mesh grill facing up towards the front of the car behind the nav display. If I touch this while driving the rattle goes away. It looks like it would just pop up and I could put something under an edge and snap it back down. Does anyone know if it will pop up and any ideas on what to put under it?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EarthCare @ May 1 2007, 05:31 AM) [snapback]433161[/snapback]</div>

That's the center speaker of the JBL sound system. search "center speaker" on PC... lots of discussions and pictures showing how to lift it up with a flat knife / Popsicle stick. The discussions also talk about disconnecting that speaker as some think it sounds better without it (I have not tried it).

Good luck.