mazda 5 dash rattle

[kjones581]

New Mazda5 Sport manual less than 1500 miles
pesistent knock/rattle in upper dash near windshield
any history of this or service bulletins I can use to help service dept at dealer locate and solve

 

[Robotazky]

Very common. It's the plastic cowling, where the windshield wipers are, knocking against the windshield. Mine did it driving off the lot. Dealer said "it's normal". I put double-sided tape that's padded between the plastic and the glass and it doesn't do it anymore. You can buy the double-sided, padded tape at Home Depot. That will most likely be the only thing that you have to complain about so consider yourself lucky. I had two Hondas that had way bigger problems than that in their first few thousand miles. Ironically, my new Ford hasn't had a single problem to mention in 12,000 miles. Seriously though, just tell the dealer to fix it or fix it yourself and forget about it.

 

[chapel]

we JUST got my wife's car and we noticed it on the way home. 39 miles on the car and it's very annoying already.

 

[pocketpenguin]

we JUST got my wife's car and we noticed it on the way home. 39 miles on the car and it's very annoying already.

Mine 2010 had a pop or clunk on the passenger side. It had it the day I drove it home new, but only when going over a driveway curb cut-out. Didn't get really bad until about 3K miles. I had to take it to the dealer 4 times. The last time they put foam between two body panels. That fixed it.

Now, about 1000 miles later, it's back. Grrrr.

With that few miles, it should be perfect. Take it in and test drive with the service manager over a stretch of road you know will produce the problem.

 

[schokie]

I've got the materials to do the cowl fix but ran into trouble with the crappy "plastic" screws that Mazda seems to have all over the engine bay. I've actually replaced the screws around the air filter because the plastic ones weren't doing anything anymore. Can anyone tell me how to get the screws out for the smaller cowl pieces that attach to the A pillar? I understand the two screws on the main pieces and how they come out but I can't get the A pillar screws to come out. Any help?

 

[flcruising]

I removed those not long ago when cleaning out our a/c blower.

If they're just spinning for you, I've always found it works to simply take my small pocketknife blade and pry up on the head as I unscrew it.

 

[schokie]

That's exactly what's happening. They are just spinning around and not coming out. I'll give your suggestion a try. I hate all of these craptastic plastic screws. None of them seem to work right and they're like a 1 try shot before they get stripped or you strip the head.