Rattles?
 

Anyone have any rattles in the hatch area?

I haven't been able to isolate the one and only rattle yet, but it appears it may be in the plastic attached to the underside of the hatch.

I'll have it looked into if I can't track it down at my first service.

-ZCarGo-

If your cargo cover isn't fully retracted, it will make a slight rattle. That's the first place I'd check.

The only rattle I have seems to come from the rear cross brace, but when I put my hand on it it doesn't make a difference. One day I'll take it in and have it looked at.

Thanks..definitely not the cargo cover. That was my first thought and it's not the cause.
-ZCarGo-

Then I'd take all the spare tire/sub stuff out, then put it back.

my 370 had that too. almost sounds like the hatch door is rattling at the latch or the underside hatch plastic is rattling, not alot just a little, but kind of constant. I took two small felt coaster things (about the size of a quarter and about 1/2" think) and put them on the ledge back there so when I shut the door they are between the bottom hatch plastic and underside hatch plastic and it stopped, so its definitely either the hatch latch or the underside hatch plastic in my car. just not sure which one it is. I still have to get back there and see what it is, but it stopped so I keep forgetting to look closer.

Very good! I'll try that myself and let you know if it works.

-ZCarGo-

Well, the quick fix didn't work. I'll be digging into the rattle a bit deeper this weekend. I plan on installing a back-up camera, so I'll be poking around in the area near the rattle.

-ZCarGo-

One of the most encouraging things about the new Z, is that at least so far, there have not been too many rattles or squeaks reported here. I'm hoping it will stay that way, nothing is more maddening than a rattletrap of a car.

I have a very slight constant creak from the rear hatch interior panel on the passenger side while driving over smooth surfaces. I'll be pulling it off and insulating that area! Not a big deal!

kevr6...

Do you have any idea how those hatch pieces are attached? I want to take mine off and insulate also, but don't want to damage anything. I'm guessing they are just press fit clips that should pop out by putting a covered flat tip screw driver under the edge and pulling outward. Sound about right? If you've done yours, please post pics.

Thanks

-ZCarGo-

I plan on approaching with the same assumption! I have a bone tool for prying which I'll use. Funny thing, the sound isn't always there...makes it tough to pinpoint!

I havent gotten to the hatch rattle issue yet, but I was mounting a rearview camera and routing the cable. I was originally planning to link to the reverse lights and ended up taking out just about everything in the way of panels to get to the tail light (which also creaked a bit if pressed). They did a very good job of securing all the cabling wth the exception of one port on on the bumper side that should have had a grommet inserted. I taped everything up that looked like it may be a problem.

One trick on the tail light if you want to gain access. There is a cover plate on top that pops off and will expose two bolts 12mm. Inside under the light is a single post with a small nut that has to be removed. Once these are removed, you need to pull the tail light assembly straigt back to release the two remaining press fit securing posts. It was not clear that these two posts were press fit. After mucking around with trying to power the camera with the reverse lights, I gave up. The reverse light wire was definately the orange wire, but it didn't power the camera. I suspect it has something to do with the LEDs vs regular bulbs.

I ended up running the power cable up front to the 12V adapter plug under the glove compartment. When routing the wire, it went past the audio equipment (mounted just in front of the tire compartment and behind the aluminum support bar) and came thorugh the center consol. Removing two screws on the center consol provided enough room to fish the wire through. This area also looked like it has potential for creating rattles. The wires were kind of flopping around, so I pulled them tight and taped them up.

I wish I took pictures of all this, but I was working till 2am and just wasn't in the mood, especially after my eye took a chunk of sanding disk from the dremel while I was cutting the camera bracked down to size.

-ZCarGo-

*bumped* Any update with these rattles? I have the same one and my car goes in next week.

Rattles Fixed!!
 

At first, I thought the rattle was in the hatch and it turned out not to be there. The rattle I had was behind the back right panel. I'm pretty sure there were two specific rattles that I insulated for.

The first and most obvious rattle was the control mechanism for locking the plastic exterior cover for the gas cap. The control mechanism was rubbing against the frame which appeared to be the source of the rattle. I stuck an insulated rubber foot (ie. the type of neoprene foot you can get at the home depot near the picture hangers) between the frame and the mechanism which absorbs the vibration.

I would be surprised if others don't hear this rattle as it looks like a fairly standard installation and does not allow for much variation.

I also tracked one other rattle behind the same panel. When I followed the bundled wire, I found one of the clips appeared to have some sticky stuff under it and it was creating a popping noise as I moved the wire bundle around. I just slipped some electrical tape underneath the clip and the issue was solved.

The other squeaks are in both tail lights when you press on them. I saw this same issue described by someone else, but this isn't a noise you hear when you are driving.

I'm working from my 3 week old memory on this, but I'm fairly certain the following description is accurate.

The cover is fairly easy to take off. You first have to take off the very back panel. Disconnect the light (just pop it out and unplug). Then you have to remove a couple pop lock clips. Once you remove these, pull from the bottom first. Then pull the rubber seal back and slip a screwdriver under the edge and pop upwards. There are 4 press fit clips holding the back cover down. Be sure you use a wide flat screwdriver and place it directly next to each clip that your popping up.

To remove the back right panel, you will need to remove one pop clip lock underneath the back panel you just removed. The second pop click lock has the loop on it. Before you remove the back right cover, you'll have to remove the spare and the right styrofoam holder (There's one clip holding the styrofoam piece down).

If you need to take a look under the hatch covers, be sure to remove the screws located under the snap down cover for the retractable cover hooks.

If there's one thing that drives me nuts, it's rattles in a car. Even more so in a $40K new car.

Good Luck with your rattles.

-ZCarGo-