I have a plastic rattle sound emanating from the lower front passenger side of the vehicle, I believe in front of where the passenger foot area is, in the lower part of the engine compartment. It sounds like a cylindrical plastic piece rattling on a metal rod and is very sensitive to any kind of road bump. It comes and goes throughout the day in spring, summer, and fall depending on the outside temperature. Has anyone else had this issue?
I think you should get under the car and look for a loose plastic cover under the engine, or a loose plastic front fender liner. Or, maybe a suspension part is loose.
^^^^^ Do this! There is a lot of plastic undercarriage shielding that gets detached due to road debri etc. over time. Paul
Whenever I do oil changes I will search in the wheel wells or in the space between the engine and the cabin for the source of the sound and haven't found anything yet. And I've had the suspension checked here and there because I do a lot traveling in the summer months and want to make sure everything looks in the spring. This noise has been an issue for probably 3-4 years now. I found a thread on this site once that may have been the source of the noise, but I lost the link and have not been able to find it since. I remember it was a white plastic piece somewhere in the area I am describing. I will try and get video posted on Youtube in the next week or two here.
a long shot, but there is a plastic "kick plate" on the bottom of the dash and it came loose once when my passenger caught a backpack on it. When I snapped it back into place the rattle ended. Well, that rattle ended, there are of course many others.
I found my rattle during the recent oil change. The front air dam near the oil pan was the culprit. It looks like this vehicle was missing 2-3 10mm fasteners to hold the trim piece. It looks like there are 2 pieces that join together under the front bumper. My passenger side was missing a couple. See if you can get your car on ramps or crawl underneath. You can move the plastic trim around if it is loose. It created the rattle I heard inside but at a louder volume. I used zip ties to hold everything together. So far no more noise.
