I've had a rattle going on in the dash of my Fit since moment one. Driving it off the lot I noticed it, but I was hoping maybe it was the tool kit in the tire well or something echoing strangely. But now that everything is secure and I've driven it both during the cold and on slightly warmer days, I'm confident there is definitely a rattle in the passenger side of my dash. It sounds like it's coming from somewhere around the tweeter?

Anyway, I was reading some threads where people fixed rattles by going to the dealer and I was wondering if it's easier to just do it yourself, especially because I've also read about dealers making other things worse when they went to fix one thing?

How would you go about fixing a rattle? If I opened up my dash, how would I tell what it was that was making the noise?

For reference, the sound is like... a plastic on plastic noise. A vibrating kind of plastic noise, whenever I'm going at any speed, in any temperature, car warm or not. The only thing that masks it is to turn up the radio. But that sucks because sometimes I just like to enjoy a quiet drive. Help?

 

Meet foam weatherstripping, your new best friend. First you have to find the rattle, then tame it with the appropriate thickness of weatherstrip. If I had a rattle immediately off the dealer's lot, I would probably do a U-turn, but after a thousand miles or more, it's just not worth the hassle. Rattles can be very idiosyncratic, so patience and perseverance are your best assets.

 

I've used weatherstrip, adhesive backed felt and packing foam. Most of the voids inside my dash (except around the passenger airbag) are stuffed full of flexible white foam that is used as support for shipping electronics. Fixing rattles in the dash is an ongoing exercise...In fact I had the gauge cluster out today trying to finally win the battle.

 

Hmm. Is it possible that by trying to fix one rattle I'll make another? Because right now it's only one, and it's kind of tiny. I'm starting to almost get used to it. And I sort of feel like a spoiled brat complaining about it, because my old car did much more than rattle, that was the noisest thing in the world - creaks and cracks and rattles and I'm surprised it didn't fall apart while I drove it lol.

I just wonder if I'm going to do more harm than good. If this is as bad as it gets, maybe I should just leave it alone. We'll see. When it gets warmer, then I might change my mind. Right now it's too cold to work on anything anyway.

 

BTW thanks for your advice about materials, you guys. I'm going to look into that stuff. That's the kind of thing I like this forum for!

 

There is a Topic about dash rattles here...IIRC the fix was to stuff some rubber tubing into the gap between the dash and windshield.

Too lazy to look it up sorry

 

My wifes Fit had a rattle from the get go. Took it back to the dealer and they found one loose screw pertaining to the glove compartment. Rattle gone.

 

I work on tons of squeaks and rattles on customer cars and your best friend is adhesive backed foam, or felt. The best thing to do is find a stretch of road where you can drive to pinpoint where the rattle is comming from. Ideally a not-so-busy road.

Find out what components are attached to each other in that area, and where possible - removed them, insulate the mating surfaces with felt and silicone paste and reassemble. Test drive to see if you hear it again - and repeat till the noise is gone.

What makes NVH problems hard is that car interiors resonate noises from other parts. So a dash rattle can really be a washer tank vibrating against the fender and resonating through the firewall. A sunroof rattle can be caused by a rear seat being loose, and so on. If you can, sit in your driveway with the windows up and (gently) tap on the associated area to see if you can duplicate the noise without driving the vehicle. This helps x10 to find it. Whatever you do, avoid actually removing the dash as this will cause 4x the amount of rattles you fix.

Good luck!

 

Ahh. I also have an illusive dash rattle. My problem so far has been pinpointing...but I will still try...and I have lots of foamy weatherstripping. This will be one of my summer projects.

 

OK that is some seriously great advice. Because I am convinced I know where the rattle is from, but whenever I ask a passenger, sometimes they say they hear it coming from the opposite side of the car! It might be an echoing thing. I'm definitely going to try tapping over there to see if i can reproduce the rattle. Awesome!

 

my dealer sprayed some kind of wax spray, they say it helps lubricate parts attached to dash.... and it worked! 2yrs later, still silent! so if your under warranty, let them deal with it.

 

Turn the radio all the way up fixes rattles

 

Any idea which screw? Thanks