I recently aquired a "new" rattle. Seems like it's coming from the passenger side rear well. I took the shock out and checked it but it looked fine. Put it back in and went for a ride ... still there. Swapped the rear shocks to see if the rattle moved with the shock ... still in the passenger side. Checked the spring and it seems a little lose when the car is jacked up (allowing the rear to stretch) but not enough that you can't get it out or anything like that. Spring rubber looks fine from what I can see. Swaybar is still bolted up fine. I tightened up the exhaust. Butted the sucker all the up and it won't moved for nothing. Rattle still there. If I take her out on the highway at 55 mph or better and hit a dip I get nothing. Once I'm on the street and hit a little bump I get it again. Hell, I even pulled the cargo area plastic off to tighten up the spare, jack and the other stuff in there. Taillight is tight. Hatch shocks are fine. Rear seat is folded down so it's not the latch. I just don't know what else to check.

KYB Gas-Adjust Shocks and struts
DropZones springs
36/24 swaybars
Hooker catback exhaust

Any ideas?

 

I'll give it a shot.

Could it be one of those shields under there gotten loose. I think there is one covering the gas tank and one more on the passanger side for who know what. Did you check those?

 

Isn't that squished in between the tank and the muffler?

 

I have a loose heat shield near my cat and just haven't fixed it yet. It's almost as bad as my driver side manifold heat shield. Just not as high pitched.

 

Yeah, I would guess its the tank shield too! It runs between the tank and the muffler. Its held on with about 10 little phillips head sheet metal screws. Maybe some of your screws came free?

Anyhow, its worth a shot....

Next, I'd check the muffler mounts. If you lost some rubber in a mount there, it might rattle.

 

Yeah, the driver's side rubber seemed lose. Don't laugh, I took the suckers out and used L-brackets to replace the clamps. I jacked the muffler up so I could get an ultra tight fit. That thing won't budge now.

 

If that didn't fix it, you might want to look under/behind your rear seat, at the top shock mount. They're notorious for getting punched out of the sheet metal.

 

Not there. I pulled the shocks and actually switched them. Rubber is good and seated properly. Tightened all the way down.

 

I just tracked down a rattle in that area... I thought it was my exuast , I was wrong. It was coming from the rear of the car. I spent many days looking for it. Turns out it was my emergency break cable rubbing on the top of my drive shaft. It seems that after the e-break cable leaves the interior and penatrates the floor under the car it goes to a braket and splits into two cables. The two cables are supposed to be held to there correct path by being held into two pieces of sheet metal clips. Mine were not in that path so it kept smaking into the DS.. You might want to check that out....

 

I've had that happen, too (where the e-brake adjuster falls out of its grooves and lays on the balljoints). Also, check to see if your anti-rattle clip on the right rear disc caliper pad is still there, and isn't broken. Also, make sure the intermediate pipe (cat to muffler) isn't rubbing on the driveshaft.

 

I didn't get a chance to look yet but I'm hoping it's one of the last two suggestions. I'm just racking my brains trying to find this sucker. I'm running out of time because the wife is due with number two in 2 to 3 weeks.

Will the e-brake still work if that line you mentioned is broke? I've been using the e-brake each time I lift the car to see what's wrong. Should I not engage the e-brake when looking for that or does it matter?

TomP, I think that happened already but that is an "outside" rattle. You can hear it from the inside but know it's outside. That's the one when that disappears when you engage the brakes? The rattle I'm experiencing in the rear well area is a cluncking noise that is like someone is making it from the back seat.

 

TomP's curious brake cable near the ball joints made me think of another.

Does it sound like a clack'ing, a rattle like a shield, or like a clunk you hear only when you hit a bump.

If you have rear disk and your hearing a clacking, it could be that your rear calipers are frozen and not working.

Also check that spare tire again. Sometimes as soon as you tighten them they shift and get loose again. Reach in there and see if you can move it.

 

Only rattles when I hit a bump. It almost sounds tensioned but not tight enough. Like it's something takes a little force to move and quickly stops after the turbulance.

 

You can check for it being the parking brake cable easily enough; just drive to a place that you know for certain will make it make the noise, and pull up on the parking brake handle enough to almost engage the parking brke; if it goes away, it could be that.

Or, just get up under there and look; there's 2 pieces of sheet metal on the sides of the tunnel, bent into a sort of bracket; the cables should clip into those. There are also supposed to be 2 wire S-hooks, one on each side, for locating the cables. Or, you could just shake the cables, and see if they make the noise.

 

Did you take the spring isolaters out? Because when I put in my eibachs I took them out, had a rattle for about 2 months i couldn't figure out, then finally put a rag in between the springs and the chassis and no more rattle. Just a thought

 

ROFL! Fer cryin' out loud... I knew I've been working too much lately. Driveshaft, balljoints, they're all the same