Rattling in the Rear!

[DiddlyDo]

Hey Guys! Just wanted to throw this one out there and I'm hoping one of you will have some insight. Like many Tahoe owners I've had to chase down several different rattles and squeaks since I bought my 99 2-door in June. I've been fairly successful and have alleviated most of them. But there is one that I just cannot beat. I'm honestly about ready to hit myself in the head with a hammer, and I think that would have just about as good a chance of fixing the rattle as anything else I've done. Sorry, rant over.


Anyway, the offending rattle sounds as though it is coming from the right side of the rear end. It actually sounds like it is behind the pillar, or behind the head liner, or even outside of the vehicle. It tends to sound like it's toward the top of the vehicle and not down below. I actually rode around back there cross legged for about 15 minutes just listening to it and trying to consider what it might be. I've torn apart my barn doors. Taped down every wire, wrapped joints on the actuators, insulated the slides that lock the doors open. I feel like I've covered everything inside those doors. I've added weather strip and new clips to the panels. Even added additional foam strips around the outsides of the doors. And the noise remains. I don't know if it's the roof rack (seems unlikely), a wire inside the headliner (I've looked and don't see any), rattling from inside the rear tail light or underneath the plastic trim above the tail light. It almost sounds like the window is rattling, but placing your hand on the glass while the car is moving does nothing to dampen the rattle. I just can't figure it out.

If anyone has thoughts, please let me know. This kind of thing drives me insane. I like my Tahoe, and I'm trying to get her into great shape, but if I can't find a way to quiet the interior, I'm sure I will get rid of it. I don't mind road noise, tires, wind, etc., but I honestly think I have some sort of OCD thing with the rattling. And not being able to find it might be the most maddening part of it all.

Looks like I started to rant again. Sorry, again. And thanks for reading.

pt

 

[SunlitComet]

 

[DiddlyDo]

Hello guys. Well, after another 4 hours of banging my head against the wall, I finally tracked down my annoying rattle. There were actually two different offenders. The first was the rear defroster bracket with 5 contact points mounted on the right hand side of the body. The contacts were old and rattling in the bracket. The second offender was a metal clip that had come off my left rear tail light. Apparently the last owner lost the bottom screw, didn't bother to replace it, and the clip worked its way loose and was rattling around behind my tail light.

 

[willxfs]

Thanks for posting this. My '98 tahoe with the barn doors is making the same annoying rattle. I've taken apart those barn door panels and trim with no luck. I will check those contacts. How did you fix this? Did you have to buy new contacts?

 

[DiddlyDo]

Hello Again Gents,

Just wanted to add an update on my battle with the rattle. So, it looks like I've isolated another issue. It likely will come as no surprise to many of you, but the top latch on the driver side barn door is also a source of rattles and squeaks. It seemed a bit loose, and I didn't have a replacement, so I wrapped some gorilla tape around the striker that is attached to the roof and it eliminated quite a lot of noise. At this point, I don't have any rattling coming from the rear end of the truck. I haven't received my new contact brackets for the rear doors, but I will update once I've installed them.

Just in case anyone is interested, I'm going to add a short list of other items that have caused me some irritation by rattling and how I've addressed them.

1 - Driver and passenger doors both rattled on bumps. To address this I replaced the weather strip and door hinge pins on both doors.

2 - Passenger door also had a metallic rattle that occurred at highway speed. To address this rattle, I tightened the access panel on the outside edge of the door. It is held in place by 3 screws and they sometimes back out a bit, which allows the cover to rattle.

3 - Center Dash Rattle. Was caused by the mass of wires that extend from the back of my stereo head unit. I corrected the rattle by organizing the wires and using zip ties to keep everything in order.

4 - Center console. This was a pain, but I addressed it in a couple of ways. First, I added strips of foam to the holes where the clips lock down the lid of the console. I also added a piece of foam under the front cup holder in the console. I stuffed it in tight and it appears to dampen the vibrations in the console and reduced rattling. I also added a piece of flat rubber to the bottom of the front cup holder which helps prevent rattles coming from any loose items that are placed in the cup holder.

5 - Driver and passenger door panels. I just replaced the clips holding these in place, and I removed a couple of broken clips that had fallen into the panels as wells.

These are all that come to mind at the moment, but my truck is slowly becoming a quiet and tight sounding truck. I'll add updates for anything else that comes to mind or requires additional work.

 

[AtomicHoe094]

good to hear your getting it all worked out.. The was supposed to have foam on that latch from the factory, wonder if someone ripped yours off.

new weather stripping makes a big difference as well. You should look into Dynamat for your doors, seems like you like your rig to be quiet

 

[DiddlyDo]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into the foam for the latch. Just to clarify, do you mean there should be foam in the door where the latch is bolted or something around the striker itself? The striker has a rubber coating, but it's pretty worn.

And I've considered the dynamat, but I haven't pulled the trigger. I replaced the carpet in my truck, and thought about sound dampening at the time. Ultimately, I just used a heavy pad. Replacing the carpet was a serious pain, primarily because of the pad and the ridiculous amount of torx bolts that are used to hold in the rear bench and the seat belts.

Anyway, I am replacing my mirrors soon and I think I am going to recover the fabric on the door panels, so I might as well apply some dynamet to the doors while the doors taken apart. I'm hoping to have all of the parts in the next week, which means all I need is a weekend off - although that may be much harder to find than the parts.

Thanks again!

 

[AtomicHoe094]

I know my console had actual foam that was taped on around the whole lid of the console. it was all factory unless someone ripped yours off? it made it shut very nicely and doesn't make any noise

Dynamat is nice, a little expensive but Ebay has some good prices in the Bulkpack. I think ive put a little more then 3 bulk packs on my truck..
those torx are terrible! dont get me started. haha Exp when the new carpet jute gets in the threads and that sticky crap around the holes.. ahh

 

[Steve-0]

book marked

 

[DiddlyDo]

those torx are terrible! dont get me started. haha Exp when the new carpet jute gets in the threads and that sticky crap around the holes.. ahh

Truer words have never been spoken. I think I had at least two Wrath of Kahn moments when I just screamed "JUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!!!!!!" Pretty sure my neighbor thought I was going insane.

And that sticky ass sludge was no picnic either. Of course, you only found out about that problem after you contorted yourself into the back and used every freakin ratchet extension and technique in the world to get those torx bolts out. I hate to admit this, but my bench on got 4 of the 6 replaced. I'd had enough. I saved the bolts. I'll put them in one day when I haven't had adequate frustration in my life to feel right about myself.

And I'll check the ebay dynamat prices as well.

Thanks Again!