Annoying rattle in my left ear! Free fix!

[DeepGXP]

After some time of putting up with a continual rattle (heard just behind my head and to the left side) I decided to do some investigation. The noise was there with top either up or down and windows also up or down. All it took was a moderate size abrupt bump in the road to hear it. I suspected something to do with the top mechanism, took a look in the trunk..... all seemed to be in order. I then started to look to the interior plastic, specifically behind the drivers seat and the culprit showed itself.

I found the plastic guide for the shoulder portion of the seat belt to be loose enough to rattle around when an abrupt impact was given to the area with my hand. The guide was not out of position....just loosely fitting. I applied black RTV silicone to the back side of the guide, (Gluing it to it's surroundings) and it is now securley in place. The fix is clean, quick, inconspicuous, free and best of all.... did not require a trip to the dealer!

Squeeks and rattles annoy the daylight out of me. I am ashamed It took me this long to investigate the noise. Once I found it, it was eliminated in 10 minutes.

My next endeaver relating to noises will involve removing the door panels to develop a way to stop them from rattling as the doors are closed (Only occures with the windows down). Any advise would be appreciated.

Hope this is helpful!

Doug

[Skip]

Rattles in door are usually the rods from the inside door handle to the door mechanism....Skip...

[Moose GXP]

Do you have any pics of this problem and the fix?

[DeepGXP]

Originally Posted by Skip Rattles in door are usually the rods from the inside door handle to the door mechanism....Skip...

Thanks! I'll look at them when I am in there!

I found that as the doors are closed (Window down) there is a lot of additional noise. While watching the door close I observed the panel moving (Vibrating) at the window opening as the excess noise was heard. If I hold my hand over the window slot...keeping the panel from moving and close the door the excess noise was gone. I think it is a matter of the panels being loose, however there may also be loose lever rods to address.

Thanks again for the tip...Skip!

[DeepGXP]

Originally Posted by Moose GXP Do you have any pics of this problem and the fix?

Sorry Moose!

I did not take any pics. The black strap guides are located right at the point the seat belt exits the body behind the seats. They are not held in with any hardware and easily removed. Simply apply the RTV to the backside of the slides and put them back into position. It requires a bit of twisting and turning to get them in and I ended up with some RTV on the panels behind the seats. It cleans right up and worked great to hold the slides in place.

Doug

[yellowSOLofTX]

I have the same rattle but it sounds like metal to metal. Thanks for the info and I will look to see if mine is the same.

[Moose GXP]

Originally Posted by DeepGXP Sorry Moose! I did not take any pics. The black strap guides are located right at the point the seat belt exits the body behind the seats. They are not held in with any hardware and easily removed. Simply apply the RTV to the backside of the slides and put them back into position. It requires a bit of twisting and turning to get them in and I ended up with some RTV on the panels behind the seats. It cleans right up and worked great to hold the slides in place. Doug

No problem. I thought I would ask!

I'll take a look at mine this evening! Thanks for the pointer...

[David Dougherty]

I had a similar issue with a different fix related to the door latch pin, check out this thread: Popping Noise From Door Latch


DD

[LilRedGXP]

Originally Posted by DeepGXP Sorry Moose! I did not take any pics. The black strap guides are located right at the point the seat belt exits the body behind the seats. They are not held in with any hardware and easily removed. Simply apply the RTV to the backside of the slides and put them back into position. It requires a bit of twisting and turning to get them in and I ended up with some RTV on the panels behind the seats. It cleans right up and worked great to hold the slides in place. Doug

DeepGXP, I think you nailed the squeaking sound I hear intermittently which gets annoying over time. I just looked at mine (driver side) and I noticed two things: 1) the black (wall) panels are overlapping slightly as opposed to the passengers side which has a nice tight fit and 2) the seatbelt guide is loose. When I managed to push the panels apart, so that they no longer overlap, the seat belt guide is not as loose as before. I'll have to do a more permanent fix and will report back with before and after pics and will let everyone know if this gets rid of the squeak.

[AZDarkSol]

I had the exact same noise from same area only when I drove over an abrupt bump. Mentioned it to GM dealer when I had my last lube service. They said it had something to do with the drivers shoulder belt restraint and they fixed it. No problems since.

WOW!! Talk about nailing it! You should be working for GM!

I see the component you are talking about...we need to get a picture of it somehow.

[LilRedGXP]

Originally Posted by LilRedGXP DeepGXP, I think you nailed the squeaking sound I hear intermittently which gets annoying over time. I just looked at mine (driver side) and I noticed two things: 1) the black (wall) panels are overlapping slightly as opposed to the passengers side which has a nice tight fit and 2) the seatbelt guide is loose. When I managed to push the panels apart, so that they no longer overlap, the seat belt guide is not as loose as before. I'll have to do a more permanent fix and will report back with before and after pics and will let everyone know if this gets rid of the squeak.

Ok, took the car to the dealership the other day and the service technician takes a look at it and fiddles around for a bit then he says it's fixed. He said the seatbelt guide was not seated properly and once he pushed the panels aside, making them flush, he pulled up on the black plastic seatbelt guide to get it to snap into place (seated in it's guide). Here's a before and after shot. The before pic has yellow arrows to show what the technician did.
This seems to have fixed the problem but I'll monitor it for awhile.




http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...XP/Before1.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...dGXP/After.jpg

[AZDarkSol]

Originally Posted by LilRedGXP Ok, took the car to the dealership the other day and the service technician takes a look at it and fiddles around for a bit then he says it's fixed. He said the seatbelt guide was not seated properly and once he pushed the panels aside, making them flush, he pulled up on the black plastic seatbelt guide to get it to snap into place (seated in it's guide). Here's a before and after shot. The before pic has yellow arrows to show what the technician did. This seems to have fixed the problem but I'll monitor it for awhile. http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...XP/Before1.jpg http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...dGXP/After.jpg

I looked at mine today and both looked like the first before pic. Snapped them into place but it is too easy to jiggle it back to being out of place. I like the RTV fix, I really believe some sort of adhesive should be used to keep the proper postioning, not permanent adhesive, some sort of flex type removable if necessary type. RTV (silicone) would seem to be perfect. Great Post "Deep"

[BrotherDave]

How hard is it to get the guide out? will come out easy with a gentle nudge from screwdriver or?

[scdyne]

Rise from the dead.. old Thread..

I heard from my Saturn tech that this may be turning into a recall soon...

I just figured out what this noise was this weekend and lucky for me they had 6 in stock to replace.. (I wasn't the first)

If it happens again I'm going the punch route rather than take it back in..

[ptjc_]

mine still rattles sounds like the trunk lid is going to come off but only when the ragtop flaps are snapped in???