driving car with the dash out / rattle

[shaunw]

Yes, another Leon owner suffering from a really irritating dash rattle. I've had the stereo and climate control panels out and tried Carnivors cure of adding to the padding on the air distribution unit. Unfortunately, this hasn't cured the problem. I've had a good poke around and I just cant see what is causing the rattle.

What I think I need to do is take the panels of and go for a drive and have a grope around (passenger) and see if I can locate the problem, it's definitely behind the centre console somewhere.

Anyway, my question is, am I OK driving the car with the climate control disconnected or will this in some way muck up the CPU or other electric gubbins?

Cant see why it would but I know that electrics on cars these days can be a bit weird and are interconnected through a centralised 'brain'.

Car is a 1.9tdi Stylance by the way and the rattle occurs on acceleration (2.5k revs approx) and on rough road surfaces at most speeds.

Regards

Shaun

 

[f0ggy]

I have the same car same rattle, happens on accerlation and must other times to be honest. It's doing my head in, i have tried the fix and had no joy.

I did drive mine with the ac unit out and don't think it's caused any issue, at least none that i have noticed.

It's been in the the dealers and they fixed, well at least thats what they told be, load of b011cks, anyway it's going back in tomorrow, fingers crossed.

 

[Xe]

Just because its sounds like its coming from the dash, doesn't mean it is. Mine was actually coming from the passenger side jack point.

 

[conzy]

This is the same problem I have been having, I have driven around with the clima control and the stereo and it hasn't done any harm, I think I have the worst of it sorted now, I pointed out another place it was vibrating in the thread where carnivor listed his fix

 

[MartH]

Just dont turn the ignition on with the air bag disconnect switch off. I did and i then had the airbag light on... Doh. Anyway mine had two rattles both from behind the dash. First was the clutch cable in the engine bay, clip had come loose and was rattling against bulkhead and second was crash pad loose behind dash, so dash out job. both sorted by dealer.

 

[shaunw]

Thanks guys, I'll give it one more go and if I cant cure it it'll have to back to the dealers.

Shaun

 

[ajweekes]

Does its sound like a buzzing noise i.e plastic rubbing?

Does it start when the engine has started to warm up or on a hot day?

If so I might have a fix

 

[googies]

I have a rattle and thought it from Dash, but it coming from the handbrake lever, more so the release button rattling quicky against the handle!! took me a while to find it!!

 

[shaunw]

Hi ajweeks, yes thats it exactly, whats the fix?

Cheers

Shaun

 

[Carnivor]

ive found a new place the rattle can come from, i was diggin around as me rattle came back the other day,

right behind the airvent mod, you can see 2 bolts that come down from the dash facia above, very hard to see!

now these things are hard to do up, but i found that they were loose by finger and definatly needed doing, its 8mm ish nut, cant remember exactlly, but my spanner set wasnt long enough to do it, and you can only get 1/6 of a turn in, so i resorted to using my fingers, i was probably able to get 1.5 turns out of the left one and 1 out of the right, a ratchet would be best to do them up but but my set dosent have one with that length on the handle and i didnt want to risk loosing my ratched behind the air venting, htf would i explain that to the dealers! lol

well, after crushing my fingers into this minute gap and getting some tightening done, my rattle is now gone again, but i would like to get some more turns in on those nuts at some point. need to mod my ratchet now!

try it, the nuts are above the 2 airvent holes roughly one each end!!

 

[shaunw]

Cheers Carnivor, another place to look. These dash rattle fixes ought to be a sticky imo as nearly everybody seems to have them!

Regards

Shaun

 

[conzy]

I noticed those when I was trying to sort mine out, but like you couldn't see anyway of getting at them, my car is going in for 1st service later this week to a different dealer than the one that supplied it, they said they would have a look and try to sort it for me, fingers crossed!

 

[f0ggy]

Well mine came back from the dealers for the Center Air Vent rattle apparently fixed, and guess what. It's exactly the same as it was.

I have tried a few things and found that if I turn up the temp to say 23 so it's blowing warm air the rattle goes away. Turn it back down to say 17 and it slowly comes back again getting gradually worse

I can only guess that whatever is rattling is expanding and contracting, so the only way I can get rid of it at the moment is to put the heating on, not ideal, but going off the weather today it might be needed.

The rattle seems to be at it's worst when accelerating at 1500 to 2000 revs in each gear. I also get a buzzing from both front doors when accelerating i think its coming for the top speaker fascia, anyone else had this???

Anyway it's booked back at the dealers Fri, and i'm taking it for a spin with the engineer.

Third time luck

 

[shaunw]

Fixed at last!!

Finally fixed the dash rattle! After trying all the recommended fixes with no joy, I resorted to driving around with the stereo and climate control unit removed grabbing hold of parts, stuffing foam in different places and getting the wife to pull on various parts (last one was to take my mind off the rattle) After many 'false dawns' I finally found the source. the air supply module to the centre air vents was the cause, but it wasnt rattling against the dash as per Carnivors post. The unit is in two parts and I found that by squeezing them together the rattle stopped. I used some spring clips to clamp it together and went for a drive, not even a hint of a rattle.

One problem, I slightly marked the finish on the climate control unit trying to get the audio unit back in. Hopefully I can get one of those mobile guys to come out and put it right. Anybody recommend someone in the Hampshire area? Its only a small mark but the problem is I know its there.

Shaun

 

[conzy]

Good job! That seems to be the biggest cause of mine too, I am getting the car serviced tomorrow and was going to get the dealer to take a look at it, so I removed the padding I have put in and since doing that there hasn't been a single rattle!! I drove over a hundred miles today and was on a lot of b roads so plenty of opportunity for it to start again. Think I will leave it alone for now and see if it stays like that, heres hoping!