Rattle

[rpaterson]

Hi Folks,

My wife's 3 door '02 2 litre petrol RAV is rattling from the rear. I had a right good look underneath and I haven't found anything that could be hitting/fouling anything else - it all seems fairly secure under there. Here is what I've done so far;

Removed the side steps as they appeared to be bumping off the floorpan. I packed the brackets/pads out with some more rubber to remedy that. Getting them back on was fun, got sciatica now!

I checked all the suspension mounts/bushes and they seemed OK. The anti-roll bar drop links seem quite loose as far as being able to 'turn' them goes. I tried wobbling them vertically but they seemed OK.

I'm suspecting the plastic moulding that goes along the bottom of the rear door now. Next thing to do is remove it and see if the rattle goes away.

It's starting to get annoying now and the wife reckons that it's nothing to do with the door/trim etc and thinks that it sounds to metallic therefore it must be something underneath. I disagree and think that it's trim-related.

Has anyone else had a rattle from the rear and traced/fixed it???

[Mike JD]

Hi Folks,

Has anyone else had a rattle from the rear???

I sure did. But the doctor sorted it out. :P

Sorry............ cheap joke but I couldn't resist.

Mike D

[rambler]

Hi Folks,

My wife's 3 door '02 2 litre petrol RAV is rattling from the rear. I had a right good look underneath and I haven't found anything that could be hitting/fouling anything else - it all seems fairly secure under there. Here is what I've done so far;

Removed the side steps as they appeared to be bumping off the floorpan. I packed the brackets/pads out with some more rubber to remedy that. Getting them back on was fun, got sciatica now!

I checked all the suspension mounts/bushes and they seemed OK. The anti-roll bar drop links seem quite loose as far as being able to 'turn' them goes. I tried wobbling them vertically but they seemed OK.

I'm suspecting the plastic moulding that goes along the bottom of the rear door now. Next thing to do is remove it and see if the rattle goes away.

It's starting to get annoying now and the wife reckons that it's nothing to do with the door/trim etc and thinks that it sounds to metallic therefore it must be something underneath. I disagree and think that it's trim-related.

Has anyone else had a rattle from the rear and traced/fixed it???

hi ya

you may have the same horrid mettalic 'rattle' i had with my back door,it turns out it was a split spot weld 'within' the back door,its part of the reinforcing that holds the spare wheel bracket in solidly.

you cant get to it ! !

solution....pack all the 'voids' in the tailgate skin with as much foam sheeting as you can,...it weighs nothing so really pack it in (or you could use expanding foam,in a squirty tube),but this stops any mettalic surfaces rattling together full stop.

obviously you will have to remove tailgate trim panel to do this....but its simple enough

hope this helps

[anchorman]

There is a TSB on the back door rattle. I'll try to find it tomorrow.

[bothwell_buyer]

I remember reading on one of the RAV forums about the back door rattle - I have it on one of my RAVs but pretty used to it as the car is pretty noisy (its number 1 with the larger turbo and straight thru exhaust)

It is as has been mentioned - a problem with the movement of the rear spare wheel bracket mounting. was it here I read it or rav4world? Maybe ancs will remember.

[rpaterson]

Cheers for the replies guys.

I've seen the TSB and it does indeed relate to 4 off spot welds that you drill out and then plug weld them back up again. I can appreciate why the wife doesn't think that it's a trim issue as it does sound 'suspensiony'.

I had the trim panel off yesterday to see how the external door trim was attached, but I didn't try levering in where the four welds are. I'll maybe do that tonight - weather permitting. If the welds are dodgy, do you see movement if you try to flex the area???

[rambler]

do you see movement if you try to flex the area???

from what i remember..no,its a spot weld somewhere near the top r/h or l/h bolts,but within the door itself

snapped possibly and causing the tak,tak noise

if you tug / push strongly on the top l/h or r/h of the spare bracket,you can hear the noise

you can almost see 'where' its coming from by shining a small powerful torch in the both rear door voids,and looking central to where the spare wheel bracket bolts to

all i thought was,just need to pack the voids to stop the sheet metal touching each other.....so

as i said earlier,i stuffed mine almost solid with foam from some old cushions i was dumping,worked wonders....and cured it