Dashboard rattle

Mine is doing the same thing. Just drove it last night for the first time in about a week and it was very noticeable. Hope there's an easy fix.

 

Dashboard rattles are sometimes hard to find. You might think the sound is coming from the right side of the dash, but it is coming from the left. I had a Ford truck that had a dash rattle in the morning when ever it was cold. It only made the rattle sound in the morning. Ford was never able to find the rattle. I lived with it for 7 frustrating years.

I am sure someone on this forum can help you.

Good luck.

 

I have a similar rattle. It is more noticible when it's colder, and when driving over bumpy roads. I believe the rattle is coming from the righthand side of the display panel, near where the passenger seatbelt warning displays (way to the right of where your speedometer reads). Sounds like high frequency plastic hitting/rubbing plastic.

I've tried pushing some weatherstripping in the front of the panel where it meets the dash plastic(there is a good 2mm gap-- very wide) and it seems to reduce the sound, but still there is noise and I see some weatherstripping sticking out. I'm thinking of removing the whole dash to put in weatherstripping behind everything, but the dash is all one piece and its HUGE.


I doubt the dealership will help troubleshoot rattles under warrantee, if at all...?

 

Had a rattle in the dash, purchased in 8/05. Waited until the rattle was annoying and then pointed it out to the dealer when in for first oil change. The tech found the rattle in the left dash speaker immediately and took care of it, gratis.

Now there's a more subtle rattle, overhead, in the area of the sunglass holder. Will wait and do some "research" to locate it as it's intermittent and then will ask the dealer to search for it during the 15,000 oil change.

Good luck, rattles can be hard to diagnose.

 

Here's something that might be worth a try, empty out your glove and console compartments. A couple of times I've found strange noises and rattles were loose items bouncing around in those areas. The storage area under the cargo floor is also a possibility.

 

One of the reasons (among many) I bought my Prius is for the quite. On the drive home, my new Prius rattled. Man was I ticked.

I've found: most rattles happen in cold weather, my tires are inflated acording to the door post, many of the rattles I've experienced are transient (here today gone tomorrow), most rattles ocurr when the car hasn't warmed up (just starting out), and best of all for me I can reproduce one annoying rattle (a tick really) by driving all the roads near my house. This rattle appears to be coming from the driver side dash, where the dash meets the windshield, between the odometer display and the side windshield post.

I've heard that the best way to find a rattle is to take a piece of garden hose cut long enough to reach from the passenger seat to the whole dash. Then have someone else drive your car under rattle producing conditions. Put one end of the hose to your ear and seek out the rattle with the other. At least that's what the car talk guys say.

OK, assuming I can ruely locate my most annoying rattle, how do I get the dash apart? I've read that there is a PDF of the toyota manual, and that there is even a post here on step by step instructions for dash disassembly. I've also read some people say just grab any piece of dash and pull hard, the whole thing is held on by clips. Well my 2006 has a least one screw in the dash, I can see it. I've done some rudimentary searches, but haven't found anything concrete on this site. Help?

Anyone out there with a guide to a Prius dash disassembly particularly for a 2006?

 

pocketpenguin,

I have (most of) the 2005 prius repair manual. Chapter 71-7 shows how to remove the instrument panel assembly. I got this from the toyota website for $10 for a one day access to download the pdf's. If you decide to tear apart your dash, I'd get the exact manual for your car because it shows exact clip locations.

Here's a paraphrase of the procedure, which I haven't tried yet; it looks very involved even though theres very few screws:

- First unplug negative battery terminal
- The left most air vent can just be pulled out.
- Then you remove the lower panels under the steering wheel (theres two screws on the lower panel).
- THen you remove the upper panel above the steering wheel, no screws.
- Then you remove the vent around the shifter/joystick
- Then you remove hte two passengerside vents, no screws just pull.
- Then you remove the lower glovebox (proceedure is somewehre, but its easy, no screws.
- Then you remove the upper glovebox, it's tricky to remove the screw covers (2 screws)
- Then remove center speaker panel --if you have it (looks like it just pops out)
- Then you remove the Left and Right corner pillar pieces, and the pillar pieces (says to first remove the corner piece [the small piece in the small window] and to tape the pillars first so they dont get scratched) (also says to cover your curtain airbags that are behind the front pillars) (no screws, just clips for these parts)
- Then disconnect the Passenger Airbag Connector
- Then the whole dash comes off (whole enchilada) with 2 bolts, 3 screws, and lots of clips. The airbag and instrument indicators are still attached to this huge instrument panel.

I'd be nervous working around the airbags, I wonder if disconnecting the negative battery terminal deactivates them so they don't accidently go off while you're working around them??

 

Thanks for the procedure. I'm inspired, but not crazy enough to try it without my own copy of the manual. I guess the $10 one day manual thing is a good idea.

Since my car is so new (471miles), I'll probably be too chicken to to anything until after I get at least my first door-ding. Then the whole car will be ruined and I won't feel bad if I mess up the dash.

 

Before you tear the dash apart, take your sunglasses out of the holder in the ceiling. I was getting more and more upset at a rattle that came and went -- and was very loud and obnoxious. It sounded to me like it was coming from the dash area in front of the passenger seat. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was my sunglasses rattling in the holder "upstairs."

 

best way to get rid of a rattle is by giving your car to a really competent tech for a day to just drive around. it'll piss him off too :lol:

DH had a brand spanking new 06 avalon recently with a sunroof rattle. warranty covered it, he had it fixed in 2 days (had to pull the headliner off, tweak it, etc- slightly more complex than the avg rattle)

dash rattles, while easier to pull the dash apart, can be very hard to place. find someone who really goes after things till they're taken care of and you'll be set.

in some cases if it's an object you left in the car (coins are often culprits here) they might charge you. but likely not. guess i can't speak for the individual who will end up working on your car.

if it makes ya feel better, i have a new door rattle that's driving me up the wall, and DH is never home and awake long enough to pull the sucker apart. grr. :angry:

good luck

 

one thing i can say, rattles suck. i noticed one the other day... but it's gone now...had the car almost 3 weeks.

 

I have had the dash panels including the lower dash and the air vents. But I have a rattle in the light colored small panels near the front quarter windows.

Question for those who have gone deeper than this: Can that light small panel be just pried up? Or does the large flat black panel have to come off first?

 

lol, i asked DH and he just got up and walked out to the car.

don't need to pull off the big black panel- a good point to pry is between the panel and the A pillar, there are a couple tabs that hold the thing in place. just lift it up a little and you'll see how it comes out. it lifts up and out a bit, then rotates out. hard to explain in text...

 

Thanks! I'll try it one of these days. Both sides rattle, and I figure a little foam or foam tape will take up whatever slack is allowing the rattle.

 

I bought mine in May ’05 and have 20K miles.

There are rattles all over the place – at different times. My carpool partner jokes, “Where will the rattle be todayâ€. The most prominent is in the drivers side upper dash about 7†from the speedometer recess – and it occurs when it’s cold (<45 degrees). There is something that is hitting the underside of the dash. I found this by pressing down on the area where it was coming from – and the noise stopped. However, I can’t keep pressing it all the time!

Items in the car can also rattle; if I have an almost empty water bottle in the front cup-holder it will make an annoying rattle-like sound. I often place my cell phone in the driver-side door pull. If it’s not wedged in there then the phone rattles. There is something in the driver-side seatbelt apparatus that occasionally rattles. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY! :angry:

This morning there was a rattle from the lower console storage drawer. I simply pushed it in all the way and it stopped.

Here’s the kicker, I didn’t hear any rattles until I a) installed the stiffening plate and B) increased the tire pressure. I won’t remove the plate but I will adjust the air pressure.

 

I used to keep getting rattles that I couldn't find and they were driving me nuts. I thought for sure they were coming from the dash or MFD.

It turns out that it was a styrofoam cup in the front cup holder. The center console, particularly the cup holders, vibrates quite a bit. But it's subtle and low amplitude, but high frequency. So just about any empty cup I put in the cup holder, whether it is a styrofoam coffee cup, a coffee mug, or a water bottle, will rattle. The acoustics of the Prius makes the sound seem as if it's coming from the dash board.

So, next time you hear rattle that seems like it's coming from the dash board, and you have a cup or water bottle in your cup holder, gently put your hand on the cup and see if the noise stops.

This weekend I had an almost empty water bottle in the cup holder. The vibrations of the center console was making the little tamper ring of the cap bounce up and down at a high frequency. It was bouncing at such a high frequency, and such a low amplitude, that you almost couldn't see it bouncing. But you could hear it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tbstout2 @ Mar 13 2006, 10:25 AM) [snapback]224269[/snapback]</div>

I just had to comment because I've had my complete dashboard out about 7 or 8 times. I can now take it apart in less than 10 minutes. The dealer has done it 3 times. I took it out twice this past Sunday. The rattle persists. If I bang on the dash around the display I can duplicate the rattle but I'll be darned if I can fix it or really define where it's coming from. Touching the left side of the display while rapping the dash deadens the rattle. I can tell you that there's a pretty wide expanse around the display area that's very unsupported and allows lots of movement. It's a difficult area to reinforce too. I've added lots of dynamat material, foam padding small brackets etc. It's also tough to duplicate the rattle with the dashboard on a table. It seems to come alive when supported around the perimeter in the car...like a trampoline.

There are a lot of snap fits and of course the danger is that eventually it will rattle more. 7-8 times apart is way too much. The screws are what they call tri-lobe or plastite thread forming. They have limited re-use and will strip very easily at some point. The dealer stripped one of mine right off the bat that made it almost impossible to get the dash apart. My rattle started right after the gas gage fix (dealer removed the dash).

Oh you have to unplug the air bag to take the dash out so don't worry about that one. My too small panels at the front rattled at one time too like others here but that's fixed. One with tape and the other with some sticky ugly goopy black stuff. Two different Toyota mechanics fixed the left and right side. One even stuffed the black stuff into my display to control the rattle. That worked for a day I think. All in all my car's a real mess from the dealer so beware. The ability of mechanics varies and they can really cause some damage with fragile snap fits and plastic thread forming screws.