Noise in Dash...Arrghh!!

Did you find the noise inside your dash?

I think that I have the same problem

Seems to be coming from behind the steering wheel, slightly to the left, inside the dash

Any ideas? The dealer says that they did not hear it


Chris

 

That does it for me

Yes, pushing down on that part of the dash removed the annoying noise

THANKS!!

Now, how to fix it for good????

I read somewhere about a comb, but that might have been a different rattle thread


Chris

 

My Prius has only one rattle. At first it seemed to come from the dashboard, but after having driven around with one hand on several places on the dashboard and my GF rolling her eyes because "it's just a rattle" I found out it was the front cup holder. I used your pic texas salsa (subtle yellow arrow). Holding that one down 'fixed' my rattle.

The dash only rattles when I take on speed bumps a bit too err... 'dashingly'. Then there's a slight rattle from the dashboard, but only then. So no rattles for me anymore.

 

I've got the "above the speedometer" rattle now, too.

 

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Thanks, I tried to keep it pretty small... :mrgreen:

 

I had a rattle last night. "Damn" I think. Already have a rattle, only had the car 2 days. Pushed down on the center dash speaker, figuring lots of people are getting that one, I probably am too, no change. Took the pen out of the storage area under the radio, no change. Put my hand on the empty soda can in the forward cup holder, all better! Guess I'm just nervous

 

John, maybe if you could get a pic of this for all of us that might help. I just drove a newer Prius today to compare for my wandering issues. I was struck by the fact that there were zero creaks from the dash. Mine creaked the day I picked it up and it drives me crazy. I've no issolated it yet but it seems like the entire dash is generating this noise because I can push on it when stopped and it makes the same noise. Like Texassalsa I don't know where to begin. I don't see which "small" piece above the speedo everyone is referring to. All that's above the speedo is the largest piece of the dash...the width of the car, which appears to cover the reflective lense. Or are we talking about something inside the vent above the speedo? A pic would be cool if anyone can help out here. Thanks.

 

The defroster vent is not the cause of the "near the windshield" rattle.

It is the mirror for the speedometer.

Reduced air-flow from the comb is a non-issue, since such a small amount of the vent is actually affected the air will simply slide by and disperse anyway. Of course, you can just snip the teeth off beforehand. I left them there to insure a good grip. But nothing has moved at all since then and the mirror has remained dead quiet.

 

I ended up tucking an length of o-ring like material into the space between the large plastic dash piece and the plastic speedo display piece, which I assume is the reflective mirror you're talking about. The material used to repair a screen door, which is like a hollow, ribbed o-ring is what a used. My miserable squeaks of 8500 miles are suddenly gone.

I also have some felt shims right now in the small panel under the fixed window on the dashboard driver side. I'm not sure how to fix that one permanently yet. That one produced a knock that only occured when I inflated the Hydroedge tires to 42/40. I don't want to force that panel out yet and make it worse so I've asked the dealer today to look at it and my o-ring fix as well to see if they have a better soluition. They're doing the fuel meter/tank TSB and checking the alignment yet one more time. I think they're going to try to make me pay for this alignment too. I didn't ask for an aliignment but that's the primary thing they can do easily when you complain about wandering even though it's been done or checked about 8 times now!!!!

 

Here's another thought: do you have CDs in the changer? Could they be rattling against each other? It's be easy to check just by ejecting them and seeing if that solves the problem.

You never know. Sometimes is the stupidest things...

 

Well if you don't put CD's in the changer you can't play them right? Sorry but I couldn't resist. No it's the top of the large dash piece and the speedo display that are doing the squeaking together. I thought at one time that it was the center speaker but now I'm sure it was not that. I long ago removed everthing from my car, all shelves, cd's, glasses, pens, etc when I was going a little bit crazy over this. I even had a back seat belt rattle that the dealer fixed with a new seat belt that I swore was the back head rest because it did go away when the head rest was removed. At least it pointed the dealer in the right direction. These things can be very deceiving...like the sun glasses in the head liner compartment rattle, lol.

With all 6 cd's in place the sqeaks still go away with the o-ring fix I outlined above. And I could manally push on the center or just left of center on the dash up near the window to reproduce the sound. Now I'll see it the dealer has a better solution than the comb or the o-ring fix for this. But I was pretty happy with how very quiet the car became instantly with the o-ring in place.

 

On my car, if you just push on the largest dash piece just to the left of center, right up towards the front window, beyond the center speaker, you can make it creak. If you then run your fingers down from the large dash piece to the face of the reflective speedo "mirror" you will notice that there's a gap there where a .1-.125" o-ring could be tucked in. I think they must have some gasketing there to issolate the mirror along its top edge but for my car it's just not doing the job.

I cut an approximately 15-20" section of this screen o-ring material and starting from the extreme left I just began tucking in at the top of the mirror between it and the larger dash piece. You get to a point around half way across the dash around the end of speedo display where you can't tuck it in anymore. Don't force it in, just gradually work push it in until it can't be seen. Just leave it extra long so you can pull it out if it doesn't work or cut to size.

I'd attach a pic but my car is in for the gas tank TSB. They're going to look at the dash sqeaks and the one rattle I've located. They may pull the oring out and as long as it doesn't squeak I won't put it back. But I was amazed how much quieter the dash was. It used to creak loudly all the time over bumps, etc and now it's very quiet. I would not call this a rattle though. The rattle was from the small panel at the left just under that non-opening tiny window on the dash. And that only occured when I bumped the Michelin's to 42/40 I could tap on the right side and get the same sound too, but it wasn't loose enough to do it on it's own like the left side.

 

No. My fix spanned to/from the driver, not side/side.

It was a proof-of-concept that worked so well, I haven't bothered to research any further. It obviously did the trick.

And I'd prefer not tearing apart my dashboard for a better fix, since the current one is virtually invisible anyway. Others can just pick up where I left off... especially with the problem of trying to take a photo of something so difficult to see with just your eye, especially when one hand is in the way trying to hold the dash section up.. Fitting a camera into all that and achieving both good lighting & focusing is next to impossible.

If this does end up affecting more than just a handful of owners, we'll follow-up with Toyota officially. Otherwise, it's just something a well-informed owner can instruct the dealer on about how to fix it.

Good Luck.