Dash Board rattle

[juld0zer]

Bit of a thread revival here - i'm pretty anal and i will relentlessly hunt down all squeaks and rattles. I've had a dull pitched rattle that occurs around 800-1000rpm UNTIL the car is warmed up after about 10mins of driving at 50-60kmh. This suggests heat could be a factor in hushing the noise so it would have to be a component that's near warm components. Weather is cooler these days and i have been using a little help from the heater to keep things cosy I've got a problem with my air mix door motor (no control of temp between 18.5-30.5*C) so it would be futile telling you what temp setting i have it on. Whatever it is, it's not hot.. luke warm at most.

I bought a roll of the VW/Audi anti rattle felt tape that they use. I've almost finished the roll...

Whatever you do, don't go around spraying silicon spray everywhere. The FSM warns of it and it's a good thing to heed. Once you've got silicon spray everywhere, you'll never be able to cure it for good.

So far i've investigated:
- Wiring behind Bose w/nav stereo unit (all cables are already wrapped in sponge or felt tape material, but the cables can still strike the HVAC unit behind, potentially causing the hollow rattling noise i'm getting from the centre of my dash). I give Nissan credit for wrapping the cables and i suppose they're thick and stiff enough to not flop around too much. I stuck a sheet of felt material onto the HVAC unit just for good measure. Didn't work so i took it off.

- Wiring for the air mix door and mode door motors (thin wiring, wedged flush against the side of the HVAC unit. Again, this could cause the hollow rattling noise i get). I simply pulled the wiring away from the HVAC unit so there's minimal chance of contact. The rattle still occurs.

- Trio of gauges, ie. the battery, oil temp and clock ones (Upon my standard wiggle and thump tests, the hoods had quite a bit of play but made a more high pitched rattle/squeak when provoked. For good measure, i folded some felt tape together and wedged it between the silver trim and the hoods. Play between the hood and gauge has been reduced, squeaking reduced to almost zero as a result).

- Wiring to the trio of gauges. There is a cable fitted behind the nav screen that goes up to the gauge pod area. Connectors were observed to have some room for movement and potential vibration against the metal framework nearby. I wrapped felt around the connectors and zip tied them tight to the framework. Rattle still occurs.

- Stereo/HVAC control unit and Nav screen. These components seemed to be screwed down well by the factory. Following removal and refitting, i tightened them up a little extra. Rattle still occurs.

- DLC/OBD2 connector. This is one loose mofo. I've wedged some neoprene padding material to reduce the movement of said connector. It has reduced some of the rattling but it hasn't been eliminated.

- Shifter (MT) boot. This is a separate problem: shifter mechanism rattles intermittently. I've done the fixes suggested here (Pull the boot snug up against the existing zip tie and add an additional zip tie to hold the boot up). Didn't work for me. I'm not game to pull the boot OVER the factory white zip tie). I'm putting this rattle down to the reverse lock out mechanism.

- Windshield defogger vent and sunload sensor. The sensor was loose and easy to pop out with just fingernail levering. Wiggling said sensor in its hole made an annoying sound so i wrapped the sides of the sensor with felt tape and shoved it back in. It fits very snugly now and no movement at all. The windshield vent (driver's side, ie. right side in our country) was very loose. There was about 1cm of movement that you could provoke with gentle tugging upwards. Used trim removal tool to pop it off and i applied felt tape to the outer edges of the grille, shoved it back in. It was certainly difficult to re-fit due to the additional tape but movement has been significantly reduced. However, rattle still occurred.

- Unknown sensor in opposite side windshield vent grille. This grille didn't exhibit the same range of movement as the other side so i left it alone. I popped out the sensor (don't know what it is but it's similar to the sunload sensor, except with 2 wires only) and wrapped it with felt tape also. It was a very snug fit to re-install the sensor.

- Rear rattle/squeak was eliminated by applying tape generously to the tonneau cover mounting points on BOTH sides (ie. the interior trim side, plus the 'male' ends of the detachable tonneau curtain). It's ugly but it works.

- Stereo/ignition button/central vent fascia. This thing sounded like it was made of lego. It squeaked and creaked like a mofo when twisted gently side by side or even carrying it around. The screws holding various components were already quite tight and additional torque did not produce significant results. Please note that depending on your model, the components on your fascia may vary. In Australia, we all get the nav package so there is a set of controls and a dial directly beneath the screen. A bunch of philips screws secure the pair of central vents, the nav control panel, and the trim surrounding the LCD screen.

I wrapped the entire outer edge of the nav control panel, along with the troughs where the retaining clips latch onto, just for good measure. We all know two glossy plastic surfaces will squeak when rubbed together. Panel was reinstalled and additional tape was applied where necessary until all squeaks when twisting the entire fascia were gone. Very tight fit.

For each of the central vents, i applied felt tape to one side of the contact areas where the screws go through. The upper one i wrapped the U shaped side (detachable vent side). The lower one i just applied it to the fascia side. On the inner edge of the detachable vents, there are two 'legs' that rest on slightly elevated sections of the fascia. These were squeaky when provoked so i applied tape to the elevated sections.

Foam surrounding the mating area of the central vents was a bit torn off in some sections so i used double sided tape to re-attach it. I applied felt tape to the duct mouths where these vents mate, for good measure.

I am currently driving without the stereo trim (it's ugly and gf won't stop complaining about it) and i won't reinstall til i've killed the rattle. The fewer variables you have, the easier it will be to isolate the origin.

My next suspects are:
- Aspirator to rubber hose junction. This junction pipe seems to be very loose and can cause the hollow rattling sound. Seems weird that there is only one plastic post to hold it in place. The other side has a hole... potentially for a screw? But there doesn't appear to have ever been a screw. Might tape this one down with duct tape or something and give it another test. It's high on my list because it's about as close as you can get to the heated air outlet and my rattling seems to disappear once the car has been driven for 10mins approx. This junction appears to be pivoted by the single plastic post and 'secured' by way of a pliable adhesive material around the union. I say pliable because you can wiggle and see the clear adhesive give, but it has a decent amount of resistance to prevent removal/accidental dislodging.

- Wrap and tape down the air mix door/mode door motor wiring to the side of the HVAC unit to eliminate movement.

- Something loose INSIDE the HVAC unit....

- Something i can't see that will require complete dash removal..

- Give up and turn the stereo up :|

[juld0zer]

OK folks,
It's been a couple of days now and i think it's all good so i can finally conclude this rattle hunt.

Note that this worked for me but may not work for you. Take the time to read the areas i have examined and check all possible sources one by one.

It was the damn HVAC aspirator junction. The rubber hose with the U bend weighs more than the aspirator itself. It also extends a good 5-7cm from the aspirator. Additional weight, plus the distance from the pivot (aspirator junction) magnifies the slightest wobble or vibration into a significant one.

Solution? Tape the hose down to the body of the HVAC unit. You can use some good electrical tape (i used some 3M stuff i had in the car) or duct tape. I will source some high-temp tape to make it a more permanent solution as it's near the heater pipes and also subject to temperature fluctuations (eg. if you turn the heater on). The adhesive of electrical/duct tape may not hold securely in the long run when subjected to temperature cycling.

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NB, I am from Australia so this was on the driver's side (right hand side). I believe on the LHD models, the aspirator will be on your driver's side. Locate the small grille near your right knee and look under, follow hose.

Let me know how you guys go with this I'd like to hear.

[juld0zer]

It's been a while since i've updated this but a few more rattles have emerged.

All edges of the lower steering column cover have been covered with the felt tape. Likewise for the arches for the indicator/wiper stalks. Screws done up extra tight.

I still had an intermittent hollow tapping/rattling noise which i thought was coming from inside the cabin but no amount of pounding and thumping could reproduce it.
Turns out it was the cowl cover (the black plastic covers at the bottom of the windscreen). Sections of it had a larger gap between the windscreen and tapping these sections reproduced the noise exactly. The windscreen vibrates a LOT, which is very surprising.

To begin the repair, i cleaned off all the accumulated gunk on the lower edge of the windscreen (and all the area underneath the cowl while i was at it).
I bought some 10mm wide, 3mm thick self adhesive neoprene and stuck it to the bottom edge of the windscreen. The cowl covers were then reinstalled. They were very difficult to reinstall and required some heavy force to put it all back together. I imagine you'd achieve satisfactory results using 2mm thick neoprene but the shop only had 3mm. 3mm is definitely too thick.

This hollow rattle has been completely eliminated at last!!

I also applied a piece of neoprene to the lower corner of the inside of the windscreen near where the A pillar cover meets. There's a gap there and the cover can rattle against the glass.

The next frontier to conquer will be the sunvisor which has a constant creaking squeaking noise. Tempted to just remove it completely but i will look into less destructive remedies first.