Strange 'clunk' from passenger side on bumps
10-06-2007 | 02:37 AM
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Joined: Jun 2007
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From: Bay Area, CA
Strange 'clunk' from passenger side on bumps
After successfully fixing the center speaker rattle, and a drivers door mirror rattle, I'm now being driven crazy by a single 'clunk' type rattle on the passenger side.
This rattle sounds like it's the passenger glove box (but I've emptied it, and driven with it open, still have the noise), or the passenger window (but I've driven with it closed/open, no difference). My car has less than 5k miles, and I've just started noticing it.
This rattle is always a single-occurrence sound (that is, not 'rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat...', just 'clunk'), and only sounds over moderate bumps and at slow speeds only - 10-40 mph - never on the freeway (and it's loud enough to be heard on the freeway). Another way to describe this may be that it's a 'torquing' or 'stressing' sound - sounds like the car is flexing over the bump, flexing in a way that doesn't happen at higher speeds, and something is 'giving'.
Another theory is the aluminum 'Acura' foot plate (or whatever it's called) that sits on the door sill; it could be a bit loose, but doesn't have the 'mass' to make my sound, I don't think.
UPDATE: I'm beginning to think it's the seatbelt 'post'.
If I tap the upper or lower areas shown, it's very loose and I hear a definite rattle. I temporarily stopped these rattles by jamming a bit of rubber into the gap. If this works, I'll find a more permanent solution. If I tap the center area shown (the wheel over which the belt runs), that one really 'clunks' with a deep sound, and I think that's my guy. I've temporarily jammed a piece of rubber in there too (not shown in the pic), but of course that won't last once my g/f gets in the car! The corresponding area on the driver's side is nowhere near as loose.
The Aluminum "foot plate" on the passenger side is very loose indeed, but I don't think that's my problem. I was able to slide a bunch of rubber under it to try to silence it (a cut-up mouse pad - the blue bits in the picture), to see if that's the problem:
Again, if the mouse-pad bits fix it, I'll find a better solution. Anyone know how to tighten that footplate? It's not loose on my drivers side.
This rattle sounds like it's the passenger glove box (but I've emptied it, and driven with it open, still have the noise), or the passenger window (but I've driven with it closed/open, no difference). My car has less than 5k miles, and I've just started noticing it.
This rattle is always a single-occurrence sound (that is, not 'rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat...', just 'clunk'), and only sounds over moderate bumps and at slow speeds only - 10-40 mph - never on the freeway (and it's loud enough to be heard on the freeway). Another way to describe this may be that it's a 'torquing' or 'stressing' sound - sounds like the car is flexing over the bump, flexing in a way that doesn't happen at higher speeds, and something is 'giving'.
Another theory is the aluminum 'Acura' foot plate (or whatever it's called) that sits on the door sill; it could be a bit loose, but doesn't have the 'mass' to make my sound, I don't think.
UPDATE: I'm beginning to think it's the seatbelt 'post'.
If I tap the upper or lower areas shown, it's very loose and I hear a definite rattle. I temporarily stopped these rattles by jamming a bit of rubber into the gap. If this works, I'll find a more permanent solution. If I tap the center area shown (the wheel over which the belt runs), that one really 'clunks' with a deep sound, and I think that's my guy. I've temporarily jammed a piece of rubber in there too (not shown in the pic), but of course that won't last once my g/f gets in the car! The corresponding area on the driver's side is nowhere near as loose.
The Aluminum "foot plate" on the passenger side is very loose indeed, but I don't think that's my problem. I was able to slide a bunch of rubber under it to try to silence it (a cut-up mouse pad - the blue bits in the picture), to see if that's the problem:
Again, if the mouse-pad bits fix it, I'll find a better solution. Anyone know how to tighten that footplate? It's not loose on my drivers side.
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