Irritating noise has now gone - Silence is golden

[UKJamesV70]

Thanks to everyone that came up with suggestions and advice on how I might get rid of the irritating rattle in the back of my car.

I have followed all of your advice and luckily found that the noise is not, suspension, brakes, exhaust heat shield, or any other mechanical component in the car; the solution was remarkably simple!!

The irritating rattle was coming from the tailgate area and so today, I took time to disassemble the tailgate in order to sort the problem.

The carpet section, which is a pre-formed piece of something or other includes the plastic housing that covers the wiper motor assembly and runs across the top of the tailgate lid, was the partial source of the problem.

Having prised the pre-formed section away from the steel of the tailgate I successfully managed to break some of the lower plastic clips, of which there are four, the upper ones survived intact.

Anyone who has done this before will know how the pre-formed section is made. It has two legs, one on the left and one on the right, each locate into respective holes in the steel of the tailgate and it was these amongst other things that were rattling.

I wrapped black insulation tape around the legs and around the respective holes; I also put eight very sticky felt pads along the upper edge of the inside glass, where the pre-formed section butts up against the glass, as well as this I put some more sticky pads between the vertical sections of plastic on the inside of the glass, all of these are hidden, so as not to notice from an angle.

I also checked all of the wiring and connectors and placed some more sticky pads where the connectors and wiring came into contact with the steel of the tailgate.
Having broken the lower clips, I was not minded to go to the local dealership to be ripped for the price of four new clips, nor did I want to wait for them to be sent from an internet supplier, so I drilled four small holes through the pre-formed carpet section and into the steel of the tailgate and fixed the whole assembly back with four black self-tapping screws and they look as if they should be there.

I then took the car down our bumpy road and……………………………………………………………………….SILENCE, the rattling noise had gone, bl—dy marvellous. Sometimes you have to be imaginative and persistent and through that persistence you sometimes find the answer.

Thanks to all of you!!

[JamesT5]

Yes, that irritating moment when you break the retaining clips holding trim on. I know how this feels because I took the interior wing mirror trim off the passenger side of my car a few months ago the triangular black trim), got a little overzealous and managed to snap the retaining clips holding it on. I ended up having to superglue the trim to the door card and the window rubber to get it back in place (I was too tight to buy a new one).

I'm sure Volvo just make this trim hard to get off so we end up snapping it and then going back to their hideously overpriced parts desk to buy another one, and then pay £80ph +or part there of to have it fitted by one of their 'Train Technicians'.

Anyway, rant over and I'm glad you've managed to fix the problem without having to unnecessarily rip half the suspension off the car, or the exhaust for that matter.

Regards

James

[UKJamesV70]

Thanks James,

I know and understand exactly where you are coming from!!!