Annoying rattle in the rear

[pup73]

hi guys,

can't seem to pinpoint the annoying rattle. it definitely coming from the rear, sounds like its behind the rear seats. i have completely emptied out the hatch, made sure the rear seats are up and locked in position. rear spoiler is not loose, jack is secured. i did not check the spare, but that hasn't been touched since i've owned the car. its a 2008.5 ms3 with 6k miles on it.

it's annoying! with the warm weather my windshield cowling rattle finally stopped, but now this. i realize this is not a lexus, but something just doesn't sound right.

i did a quick search couldn't find any obvious, widespread rattling problems..

car is scheduled for routine maintenance in a month, i'll have them look at it then..

any thoughts?

thanks

-c

 

[GoFast]

loose change...

 

[pup73]

loose change...

yeah thanks i'll go look. then i'll paypal you then change

-c

 

[Sport6]

Do you have a rear motor mount? I get a vibration rattle sometimes in the hatch area that I haven't checked out yet. It only happens if I take off from a stop, but doesn't happen all the time.

 

[pup73]

Do you have a rear motor mount? I get a vibration rattle sometimes in the hatch area that I haven't checked out yet. It only happens if I take off from a stop, but doesn't happen all the time.

stock motor mounts...

its a reproducible rattle, worse with bumps (obviously). just started a few days ago...

thanks

-c

 

[GoFast]

im serious...I had a rattle that sounded like it was coming from the back and I couldnt figure it out. I then was cleaning out my car one day and reached into that little flap under the driver seat, removed about 80 cents and noticed that my rattle disappeared.

 

[Yamaha72]

Had the same rattle. Took it to the dealer and the right rear strut was shot. Pretty sure the same happened to you, and mine was at 20k..

 

[eg6motion]

could be the cargo cover. Mine rattled for awhile, removed and re-snapped it back into place and all was good.

 

[jam_asian85]

check your endlinks

 

[mr_mazda329]

check your endlinks

endlinks = rattle? I thought they were for clunks and pops.

 

[Sport6]

endlinks = rattle? I thought they were for clunks and pops.

Yeah endlinks are more of a clunk than a rattle.

 

[derspi]

^^

Hard to diagnose over the internet though. Some hear rattle and some hear light clunking.

I'd say check the rear endlinks as well.

 

[pup73]

thanks for all your suggestions. i removed anything that may have been loose in the hatch- the jack, the cover for the spare, the cargo cover. i put the rear seats in the up and down position. i check the rear seat belts. and yes, i checked for loose change

still have the rattle i believe it's worse when encountering a bump in the road, while taking a turn (for example, when i turn into my driveway). could be my imagination though.

anyways, i think i've eliminated any interior rattling issues...

i'll keep looking.

thanks

-c

 

[bluelion]

like others have already mentioned....check your rear sway bar endlinks. may need to be tightened....

 

[Falango]

I'd reach in behind your back wheels and grab hold of any suspension part, and give them a good tug. Sway bar endlinks would be the first to check, but I'd check everything under there, to make sure there's no loose bolts anywhere.

 

[Wehrmacht]

I have a rear motor mount (TRZ) and the rear rattle is about all I hear from take off. This car is ridiculous with its' noises - I have the windshielf rattle, the God blessed cd player/dash squeek/rattle, and quite a bit more noise after the motor mount.

I live with it, but I'm the type that its really starting to irritate me.

Anyone got pic's of said end links?

 

[bluelion]

i should be receiving my AWR endlinks this week sometime, i'll make sure to snap some pics of my stripped/rattling endlink before i change it out...

 

[bluelion]

here are the factory endlinks....

this one is the one that i had stripped when i retightened it....you can see the nut is not flush and tight against the sway bar.. that's what was causing my rattling issue...

here is the passenger side, nothing wrong with this one...

here is a shot with both of endlinks....

here is the driver side AWR endlink

here is the passenger side

and the shot of both endlinks from the rear....

 

[pup73]

blue lion,

thanks for the info and the pics...i've been busy at work and have resigned to living with the rattle. but i will check this weekend. i do think it's coming from the rear drivers side, fwiw...

thanks

-c

 

[pup73]

ok,

i still have the rattle. as bad as ever. here are some poor pics i took of my endlinks. i think my driver side may be a bit off..

any thoughts?

thanks

-c