Rattling: if you've solved a rattle in your rear hatch come
 

Hello all,

I have a rattle in my rear area and I understand there are many many things that it can possibly be and I am at my wits end with it. I have tested everything I can think of so I am calling out to try and find if anyone has solved my issue (or if there are any rattles that I don't mention here trying to fix)

Okay so I have Berk HFC's and AAM Short Tails so my exhaust is reasonably loud and has caused rattles before (like the roof liner rattle that I have fixed. Later, I installed a Evo-R Hi-wing and originally I thought that a washer falling into the hatch area was causing the issue but I have explored the hatch from every side and there is no rattle in the hatch. Because there was a new louder rattle that I have ever heard before, but it did not start the day I got the spoiler but like a week later.

The noise: a metallic rattling that intensifies as the exhaust gets louder and as the engine passes through the "hot" resonation range the rattle climbs louder and then falls off as the resonation range ends (this is low rpms up until like 5k, or that the engine noise drowns it out to the point where I cannot hear it)

What I have tried:

-Holding the spoiler to the deck while someone else rev's

-checked the hatch latch mechanism, the rattle occurs when the hatch is open and closed. So I do not believe the hatch mechanism is causing the rattle as does happen in some cases.

-Putting soft material in between every single panel in the rear hatch (part that opens when you open trunk).

-Removed allllll panels in the top hatch area.

-Checked every single bolt, the ones that hold the spoiler on, the ones that hold the little fog light on the hatch on, bolts that hold the hatch to the rear panel, holding the spoiler itself

-Checked the rear fog light panel underneath (held it while someone revv'd the engine, sound persisted and that metal panel did not move or vibrate at all)

-Checked the rattle that many people have in the roof liner that is some wire that heads to the antenna on the roof, occasionally this one acts up put putting some slight pressure on the roof where the wire is located stops this

-checked the "rattling plastic on glass" sound that is described in some issues where tapping the glass creates the rattle (this does not create the rattle for me) and putting your fingers between the glass and the plastic stops the rattle. I have checked this multiple times because as everyone says the sound travels down the glass and echos back and sounds like its in the back. And it sounds like my sound is coming from the back but this does not solve or quiet the noise.

-Removed Every single panel and piece of the rear hatch, including the spare tire and all parts and all panels. Now this one I did today and what I found is that the noise got VERY much louder. So naturally I thought it was a loose bolt or something on the metal of the rear hatch. After an hour worth of having someone else rev the engine and sitting in the hatch, trying to tighten bolts and pressing on the different panels of metal on the interior of the hatch. I cannot find any item that is loose or not properly attached or rubbing on any metallic surface.

-At this point I got outside the car with all of the panels removed and checked my license plate (which already has cardboard between the plate and the bumper) and the fog light plate again. When checking the fog light plate, my head was near the location of the "Nissan" emblem in the center and I did not hear any rattle outside the vehicle but could hear it echo'ing from the inside of the hatch. (I think)

-This caused me to try and check exhaust components themselves, so I laid under the back of the car and tried to shake the exhaust components in the hangers and the hangers creaked a little bit (which might be it idk)

-The exhaust does not have a leak or any silly "washer mods" that would create such a rattle and I am reasonably sure that all of the exhaust connections are tight enough.

Does anyone have any other ideas of what it might be. I feel like I have exhausted every thing I can think of?

And I know if I go to the stealership I'm sure they will say "well its modified so theres not much we can do". and I know its not as modified as other Z's but around here it might as well be running on unicorn magic and fairies, the way the local dealership treats me when I go in there like they cannot figure out why I modified the car at all.

Any insight that is offered would be much appreciated

KBC

TL/DR

http://img2-2.timeinc.net/toh/i/a/to...m-spray-00.jpg



disclaimer: don't actually use that lol

Nice meme.

You have been so very helpful.

Sometimes a funny post helps relieve the "rattle in rear" pain.

I had this same issue but it ended up being my coilovers one of the hats was loose and every time i went over a bump i got this rattle/banging noise which drove me nuts until i figured it out. Sux man good luck to u

i have a fast intentions exhaust and have the same rattle high pitch noise, i can only hear it up to 4500rpm, rear interior hatch is stripped out, sounds like a screw is loose. im going to try and take off rear hatch door and see if noise disappears.

I had a rattle coming from the rear hatch area as well until I swapped my rear bumper. My guess is the wire, wrapped in plastic hose, that connects to the hatch/trunk light. I noticed this in particular because it's a very viberatable part that goes through a thin metal sheet that can cause quite a ruckus.

I have a fast intentions exhaust and I also notice this rattle, it's a high pitch noise... anyone find a solution. It almost sounds like a piece of dynomat in the right spot would fix it.. Lol

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk

Get a mechanic's stethoscope* (a paper towel tube make a good substitute) and see if you can pinpoint the source of the sound.

*Not a recommendation, just an example

:iagree: I have the exact one SouthArk linked, and found it very useful in diagnosing a failing power steering pump. I think it was $1.99 on sale at one of the parking lot tent sales at HF.

Try to pinpoint a general area where the noise is coming from. Also, how many miles on your HFCs? I've heard HFCs rattling when the insides start to deteriorate, but that's not terribly common.

Thank you all for your suggestions! I'll look into the wire going through to the tail light here when it warms up or when I can get the rest of my tools out to my current living location (took a COOP in a different state and my tool chest was not on the list of current essentials)

And my cats have about 30,000 miles on them so I suppose it could be that but I would say that the sound does not make much noise outside the vehicle (from what I can tell because I'm usually driving) But I will take a look when I check the rest of the exhaust for loose hanger bolts and things just to be sure.

I am going to be doing Swift Lowering springs soon so I will be under the car already so it cannot hurt to check the hats on the rear suspension as well because I could very well see it coming from there.

I found my rattle
 

I had a rattle which sounded like it was coming from the hatch area, I tore all the trim off in the hatch area and my wife drive me around. The rattle was there but it was coming from outside the car right by the passenger fender. So put all the trim back on, and started looking outside the car, I took the wheel off, the wheel wheel liner, but I couldn't find anything loose. Then I notice that little plastic cover that covers the end of the chassis on the bottom right of the wheel well (see pic). It was a little loose so I took it off to see why and low and behold under it sitting on the end of the chassis was a bunch of rocks. Over time they must have gotten in from all the road work they are doing. I cleaned it out and tighten up that plastic cover and no more rattle. Hope this helps anyone that is going nuts and can't seem to see loose, check under that black cover.

I had the same problem and fixed it. It was some body sheet metal just below the latch. Had a friend drive around with me in the back and stopped the noise by applying pressure. A couple sheets of dynomat to soak up the vibrations, and it's gone. Don't know how a louder exhaust caused it, but it was an issue both me and a friend had, that was fixed with the same method. Just me .02

There is a sheet metal heat shield above the rear muffler, that vibrates like crazy on my car with Akropovic CBE. I thought it was coming from the spare tire area, until I stripped the back of the rear interior out, and rode in the rear hatch area with the wife driving. The noise was coming up through the floor where the spare goes.

Then I climbed under the rear of the car, added extra bolts to the fog light bracket (didnt help), and then discovered the muffler heat shield was causing the noise. The heat shield only makes noise with aftermarket exhaust on my car.

Thinking about removing the heat shield now...

I had a high pitched rattle for months that was driving me insane, after taking apart the entire damn hatch area it ended up being one of the lil cargo net clips was broken off inside the panel. Replaced all 4 clips and rattle is gone..:rofl2::rofl2: