A lot of people have been complaining about a rattle coming from the back seat somewhere. I personally have experienced this rattle since the day I picked up the car (7/29/00) and I've reported it to Acura everytime the car has been in for service (I lived in New York until Nov. '01).

I'm living in Houston now and the Acura dealer down here put some padding between the glass and the third brake-light about a year ago. That helped, but never solved the problem.

I dropped my car off on Wednesday to have an oil change and about 5 rattles looked into (the interior of my car rattles so much I just want to sell the damn thing and buy something else). BUT! I might be in luck this time. The same Acura dealership told me that the third brake lamp housing is broken and that an entire third brake light kit is on order. They are replacing the entire thing next week.

I'll update everyone after I pick up my car at the end of next week but I'm hopeful this will fix the problem. If the technician can hear the rattle and identify a broken third brake lamp housing than at least we're making progress!

-Rob M.
PS - I've also got a rattle at the inside lower-left corner of the driver's door window. If you put your finger between the glass and the rubber strip, it goes away. Also, it sounds like my passenger seat is about ready to come off its tracks. This only started recently. Going over any sizeable bump and you hear a horrible metallic rattle. Hopefully Acura can find these! They haven't mentioned them yet to me.

 

i got a weird rattle comin some where from the back too, i havent pin pointed it though yet

 

I removed my 3rd brakelight entirely and it helped, but now the passengerseat is creaking when empty, so I lean it forward, which helps too. I also have a little rattle in the joint of the Bpillar behind my head and the roof. It ceases whn I put pressure on it, but I can't find a quick fix for it. Unless I jam a 2x4 across from B pilar to B pillar. Sucks.

 

I got almost the same problems you have with rattles. I lost a lot of sleep over it, and the dealership does not do much to solve the rattles. It pisses me off, but there is nothing you or your dealership can do for you... this is the way modern cars are built....

 

My car is a little over 3 months old, but you'd think it was 3 years old with all the rattles. I know there's noise that comes from the back seat having to do with the arm/cup holder that folders down. Both my windows rattle when they are open, even a crack. Sunroof rattles when closed (I keep it open now just to get rid of the noise). Seat "creaks" every time I hit a bump and my weight shifts even a tad in it. Driver side dash squeaks on bumps to the left of steering wheel. Rear view mirror makes a noise when going over the smallest bump (can hold the mirror and squeak goes away. And there's some noise from the passenger side I haven't identified yet.

Ya, I'm anal... but I just expected more from a new acura I would actually pay $$ to have someone professional "de-rattle" the car.

 

I just don't agree with the philosophy of "live with it" when it comes to rattles. If it's a minor problem, a one-off, fine. Not 5 rattles all happening at once making you think this car was put together in about 50 seconds flat.

 

it would be better if they were built in japan

 

same thing happened to me, and it was fucking embarrasing, people are like "nice ACK" we go ridding around and it rattles like helll, so one weekend i took apart the whole interior and found out that the seat belt thing(inside the back panel where the seat belt wiends into) was very loose and was the cause of all the rattle and i was soooo happy with my rattleless car now!!!

 

I had the rattle right out of the box in my 2001 CL. I tore out all of the trim in the back seat area, and I put foam on everything to no avail. Determined to find the source of the rattle, I climbed into the trunk and started banging around the rear shelf area. To my surprise, I heard the rattle. It was the center brake light housing hitting the metal reinforcement for the rear shelf. The third brake light assembly only had two screws, one on each side, attaching it to the shelf brace; so it would rock back and forth hitting the metal under the rear window shelf. I pushed some foam between the light housing and the metal holding it. That stopped the noise.

 

i had the same problem, they said my 3rd brake light was messed up and ordered me a new one, when they put the new one in it did the same thing!!

 

Great.....I actually thought the third brake light might fix it. Guess not!

I might try what 'allenn' did and remove everything from the back seat area.

Thanks everyone.

 

Replacing the third brake light does not fix the rattle because it does not fix the engineering flaw. Put some foam between the rear of the third brake light and the metal shelf. I guarantee that this will fix the brake light knocking on the metal shelf. I shared this fix with my local dealer in Atlanta, GA; and they have successfully repaired many problem autos.

 

Thanks, but that's what Acura fixed *last* service about a year ago and it barely helped solve the problem!

I think I might try taking everything out and paying close attention to the rear seat belt tensioners.

Thanks,
RM

 

I probably do not have any other rattles in the back seat area because everything has been padded and insulated with foam. The third brake light was the last rattle. I had a rattle in the driver side door that I corrected by replacing a broken door clip.

 

Could you describe what you did for you door? Which clip are you talking about

 

I replaced the broken plastic door trim clips that hold the door trim panel to the door. Also, put foam tape around wiring harness, so nothing can move or hit anything else in the door.

 

Sh*t!!! Took it in long ago and once they saw my woofer box, they told me that was the reason and stopped there....

 

That could be my exact problem on the driver's door. My rattle comes from the lower left corner of the glass area. Could actually be just inside the door. I let Acura know about this. They haven't told me anything about this rattle yet, however.

I LOVE THIS FORUM!

 

I told my dealer about this, and I was turned down... "could not reproduce"....

 

Dont know, my dealership told me to go for a test drive with them to pin point the vibration, plan to do it sometime this week. Its not constant so i hope it happens while i'm doing it.