I finally got my brand new TL yesterday (Anthracite/Quartz/5AT/Navi). I still can't believe that I actually own one. It's my biggest purchase ever.

Unfortunately, my joy didn't last long. Today, as I was driving around town I noticed a very pronounced rattle coming from the center dashboard area. It is there on all but the smoothest road surfaces. Once I turn the radio past volume 4 or 5 I won't hear it anymore but I can't live with it knowing that it's there. Please tell me that this is something that the dealer can fix for me. I am so bummed out.

I did not hear that noise yesterday when I picked up the car or during any of my previous test drives even though I had made a point of keeping the radio turned off.

I saw in the forum that the 2004's had systemic rattle/vibration problems at higher speeds. My 2005 does it at 10mph and higher and once I even heard it while stopped at a traffic light.

 

We have an outstanding array of information in our 3G Garage

This thread may help you. If not, go to the Garage and search for "rattle" for more threads.
F-079: DIY: Fix for center speaker rattle
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82055

 

If it's the upper center dash area check out threads regarding the "center speaker" rattle. -Very common/easy to fix-

If not, are you thinking it's within the radio/nav (storage bin) area or shifter area?

 

Thanks, Ron.

Took her out again for a test drive with my wife's second set of ears. My wife thinks the noise is actually coming from the shift lock release cover, not from the dash (or speaker). I plan to take that bad boy out tomorrow and see if the noise goes away. It would be sort of good news if that was it because I could probably glue it back in or something to make it shut up.

Still, I'm not ready to assume that every TL has that problem. Wouldn't everybody here be talking about that? And I still haven't ruled out the dashboard/speaker...

 

KJSmitty,

yes, leaning towards shifter area now but should know more tomorrow. See my follow-up post above. Is this a known problem?

 

OK, if it is the shifter gate squeak/rattle I would say that too is common.. My 04 TL had "this one" bad... All I did to fix it was apply 3M silicon spray liberally and worked it under the gate (between the aluminum gate and wood/Carbon Fiber etc). Basically used the small red applicator tube and sprayed around the gate edge while moving the gate thus to "work-in" the silicon. Did this about 3 times in a two week period. It's been numerous months without a rattle come-back.
I think others have said their dealer also installed felt tape or something under the gate with satisfactory results..

Good luck, hope its your one and only rattle

 

KJSmitty,

thanks again. Today, I heard a creak coming from the sun visor area. I put my finger against the plastic retainer where the visor snaps in and it went away (for a while). The funny thing is I may not hear any noise for 10-20 minutes. Then all of a sudden it starts and it's really annoying. Maybe a pothole sets it off. I don't know.

I found this thread that talks about sun visor rattles:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100981

I will try the silicone if I can indeed narrow it down to that area. I am still pretty sure though that the shifter gate area and especially the tiny shift lock release cover produces rattles as well at times. I'll be keeping an ear out for that.

I must admit that I find it very hard to keep the stereo turned off to listen for rattles all the time. If I haven't heard anything for a minute or so I usually succumb to the temptation.
Especially since most of my driving during the week is on the freeway.

After having read a lot about rattles in this forum, I do feel a bit more confident that I will be able to either fix it myself or that the dealer can do it for me. I'm definitely less bummed out about it than I was yesterday.

Thanks for your help so far!