ZCarGo

Yes, I was the one who identified the rattling gas cover locking mechanism.

Well it turns out there are more rattles. Nothing drives me more freaking nuts than these freaking rattles!!!

Alright, so I took care of the locking mechanism. More rattles started. Back to my original suspicion that it was something in the hatch. It had quieted down during the cold weather, but now that it's warmed up again, the rattles have come back with a vengeance. Here's what I've been able to identify.

1. Hatch..as others have described, remove the hatch covers. You have to pop open the covers on the hooks where the retractable cover attaches to gain access to the 10mm bolts holding these clips in place. You must remove the clips before you can pop off the plastic covers. Near the back (near the brake light) of the hatch, you will find two square boxes..one on each side. Both are different sizes, but attached the same way to the hatch (10mm bolt). I have no idea what they do, but my guess is something to do with the defroster. Unscrew the bastards and put a piece of foam tape (I used double sided heat resistant foam tape and only removed on side. I stuck this to the hatch, so the metal box rests on top of the non-sticky cover.

2. Next, the wiring throughout the hatch has the plastic sleeve that can rattle if squashed at all. I retaped and secured it to the hatch in a few more places than what the manufacturer did. All of the wiring under the spare and throughout the car are in the same plastic sleeve.

3. Headliner directly behind the dome light controls. I haven't tackled this one yet as I'm still trying to figure out what the best approach for insulating it would be. I was thinking of using filter floss and tucking between the liner and roof panel. As long as there's no electrical wiring, I think this will work.

So after reassembling, the noise coming from the hatch was greatly reduced. (almost tollerable) I believe the remaining noise must be coming from the plastic sleeve surrounding the wiring in the hatch or the clips which hold the wiring to the car. I will work on this over the weekend.

When I filled out the JD Powers survey, I reamed them on the rattles. My comments were exactly what was said in an earlier post. A nearly $40K car shouldn't rattle.

The thing that really burns me is I bought my wife an EX35. The damn thing has a rattle that's been driving her crazy. She usually doesn't even notice rattles. I drive down the road slamming the dashboard or hitting the glove box and she thinks I'm nuts. Infiniti has an add showing these idiots with stethoscopes listening for rattles so they can eliminate them. Clearly the guys with the stethoscopes are deaf. I'm beginning to wonder if Nissan/Infiniti are just prone to rattles.

This has been so significant for me that I'm considering never buying a Nissan/Infiniti product again, which is a shame because every other aspect of both cars are excellent.

-ZCarGo-