Fixed a Dash Rattle

Eavan:

Took mine in today for a Warranty Replacement of the driver side dashboard where it lines up with the driver side door.

Not enough clearance (probaly only needs the thickness of a single
sheet of bond paper to clear) so the chrome (plastic) trim was wearing off.

They replaced the module rather than both; the door panel is around - get this - $ 1,400.00 (yeah, you read that right). The Visiting Toyo Guy is gambling this is the fix.

If not he's agreed to replace the door panel as well. Service advisor said he saw the same thing on one only '03 Corolla. Door panel and trim were both replaced and the problem went away.

Subtopic:
I hate this, but I'm taking mine in for the ECU recall Flash 'n Patch. I'll be first on the block with this dealer. Urkh!!

I promised myself I wouldn't be number one, but none of the local Prions have gotten a Recall Package yet; with serial number 0739, I seem to predate a bunch of local owners.

I had a heart to heart talk with my advisor and the Service Manager about this. I made them read our many posts about a Certain Person's experience with being the First to Flash in his region.

The Service Team have reviewed the protocols Toyota and are confident they can do it, using their Ichi Ban '04 Prius specialist tech. OK OK; wrong language...he's Korean, and he is very competent.

We'll see how the fix goes.

Does anyone know if we are to expect an observable result form the Recall Patch? The way the protocol document reads (I saw it this morning), I doubt if there is an observable result. Except loss of presets . My advsor said they'd jot them down and reload them after the patch is installed.

Maybe something more like an event will NOT take place.

Let me know if you have some inside techhie scoop on this.


Bob

 

I've got over 12K miles on my 2004 Prius and the only rattle I've heard is from the empty coke can in the drink holder.

:wink:

 

I seem to have lots of little noises that I would not go so far as to call a rattle. They occur over some bumps and one to my left "somewhere" (sounds like in the back) happens over some rough rough roads. The one in back is some sort of resonance. The one in the dash area (center or left of center) is more of a low volume, but sharp creak. Like plastic against plastic. I fixed one that turned out to be my sun glasses in the overheal compartment. That one I would have bet was in back of the glove compartment. Shows you how difficult these things are to trace down. I do think that the center speaker grill rattles some. I'm pryed on it gently to to see if I could remove it to put some foam strips under it without breaking it. But since I don't know where the snaps are and don't want to crack it or the dash, I've just tried to ignore it for now.

 

I finally located the one buzzing rattle in the back seat. It's the head rests on the larger fold down seat! It went away when I had my wife sit back there which implies that the seat itself might be the cause. It's firmly latched before anyone asks. It goes away if I lower the seat or remove both head rests. I've tried shimming the seat slightly with a soft rubber pad near the latch and that does reduce the problem some. I don't think there's any latch adjustment but there are some pivot ones. I really think it's the bore/plastic lock that the headrest slides into that causing this because I can get movement and sound out of it when I wiggle it with the headrest out. The other side doesn't do that at all. Nor do the fronts. That movement might be acceptable and it's a loose seat latch that's doing it. There doesn't appear to much movement if any when I shake the seat itself. That buzzing will drive you crazy sometimes

With the dashboard creaks, cd rattles (I think), the wiggles going down the road with highway grooves, I'm starting to question the quality of at least my Prius. Maybe built on a Monday or something, lol. I'm going for a sanity check today at lunch to drive another one that another owner has offered to let me do. If it's the same then I guess I learn to live with it....maybe turn the stereo up and look for better tires or something, lol.

 

i had a little rattle... it came from the moulding around the rearview mirror. a quick push of it into a firmer place fixed it... it plagued me for weeks.
-r

 

Ya, I had the same problem with a rattle from around the rear-view mirror area (I think it was where the mirror auto-dim cable connected into the panel with the map lights).

I've solved (?) it temporarily with some pressure/wiggling on the map-light cover.

So far, so good. Back to nice and quiet!

Dave

 

Glovebox rattles are often resolved by adjusting the position of the latch assembly. You may find that there are two screws (either side of latch), and one or both may have become loose (confirming the suspicion). If this is the case, simple tightening or subtle repositioning should cure it.

Mind you, I have no idea what the Prius version looks like. However, this simple fix has worked on several cars I have had experience with.

 

Fixed a License Plate Rattle

Five points to Gryffindor, er... Evan for simple, zero cost solution to the license plate ratte. =) I was going to search for specially designed rubber stoppers or some contraption when I figured someone on PriusChat probably has solved this problem already. Search is your friend. =)

I framed the bottom of my license plate and license plate holder with 3/8" foam weatherstripping which I had ratpacked from previous little annoyance solving and voila, no more rattle when I close the hatch. Tomorrow on the freeway will be the true test if the rattle goes away while driving. It doesn't always occur, but if you don't hear back from me, it'll be a success. No news, is good news.

P.S. Just got done reading Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix. Apologies for the annoying reference to non-Harry Potter fans. =P

 

I did the same thing when I swapped the plates from my old car to the Prius yesterday. But it wasn't because of rattle, I didn't want the 18 Y/O plate scratching the paint on my new car I put a strip behind the upper holes and one down each side of the plate

 

I wish I had your foresight, Bruce. I noticed an small line where paint was scratched off as a result of my unprotected license plate mounting. =( Oh well, it's in a spot that's always going to be covered anyways. And I suppose the foam will protect from any additional damage.

 

Those plates are kinda beat up. Seeing all the bends and somewhat rough edges had me nervous right off. The rear of the Odyssey had two tabs at the bottom so the plate didn't bounce around. Not having something similar on the Prius suggested the plate would whack the paint with every road bump. I could have gotten a replacement plate for $10 but I already gave the DMV a lot of money

 

In this day and age of snaps fits the glove box on the Prius is typical. It is not adjustable but it is a well designed fit and I'd be surprised if there were any rattles coming from it. You can easily check this by just putting your hand on it when you hear the rattle. I'm sure all of us try to put a hand on whatever is accessable when we hear noises in our cars anyway.

It's usually the noise or rattle you can't touch that drives you batty. My dash was like that as was the right rear seat belt assembly. Now that the dealer has fixed both the dash is emitting a buzz at freeway speeds! Like trying to plug a leak in a dam sometimes. And with snap fits/plastic parts, everytime you dissassemble and assemble things you risk creating another noise because the plastic never quit returns to its starting shape. Repeated snapping of plastic parts at some point will almost always result in diminished forces holding the snaps parts together. The relatively low modulus of plastic and its nonlinear nature, which make snap fitting possible, also is its worst enemy over time and/or abuse. But given that, well designed snap fits are great for assembly and limited dissasembly.

I had that license plate rattle right away too and put some foam padding there. Our Acura has a feature to hold the bottom of the plate like some other vehicles, which the Prius does not, to prevent rattling.

 

A few days ago I started noticing this damn rattling on the passengers side. I knew this was a topic a few months back so I did a search and read all the easy remedies people suggested. I took the don't open anything approach and pushed down on the dash and other areas. So my other half and I are going to a Christmas party last night and I pull out and start going down the road ......no rattle I fixed it!! Travel a few more blocks and it starts again. I say hold down various area of the dash to see if it stops.Nope didn't do it. Then my partner holds the E-pass holder I got, no double stick velcro on my new car windows, and it stops. With that deep windshield echo area it sounded like it was coming from the front window area. I'm so happy I found it, I'm not exactly Mr. Mechanic when it comes to taking things apart. :lol:

 

yes with all the reflections you can never be sure the source of a rattle unless you can touch something to make it go away. My last one is the mirror. Just touching it makes it creak a lot but when I hear this resonating light rattle touching the mirror makes it stop. But I removed the mirror, package 9 style mirror and it can't be disassembled further by the looks of it. I tried a similar mirror on one of the Toyota SUV's and they're pretty much solid. Mine is just an assy. that allows a lot of relative motion betweeen the two plastic housing internally.