Rattle inside front window / dash area

[Brent.nass Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Brent.nass]

Hello

I have had rattle coming from the front right (drivers side) of my dash for a few weeks and released last week after a week of rain that it stopped and then came back after it dried out so it must be on the outside

I did some looking and playing and think i have found it - it seems to be the plastic and rubber seal that touches the front window.

I have wedged a thick bit of felt between the window and rubber seal and it seams to have stopped the rattle 99.9%. See image



Has anyone had the same issue and if so how have they repaired?

Now there is a gap between the rubber seal and winder does it matter if water / dirt goes in this area?

Thank you for your help

Brent

[Brentnal Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Brentnal]

Hey Brent,

I've heard of this particular bit of plastic causing issues for others, especially at around 1500rpm in the diesel.

[Riv39 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Riv39]

Ok, assuming you have the diesel then sit back and have a read of these two threads:

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...1500+vibration

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...1500+vibration

[bruggie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bruggie]

Hi there,
There are indeed a number of threads dealing with this issue. I have had it for nearly a year and it was driving me nuts. My Prado is a Feb 2011 built, Diesel manual. The rattle indeed appeared to come from the front right side in the dashboard firewall area. It came and went several times and mostly during colder weather (10-15 degrees). The dealer couldn't find it and I spent a lot of time looking for it myself. Last week I drove around without the plastic trim under the wipers but it was still there. Yesterday, it was there almost permanently around 1800 rpm. As I couldn't get my wife to operate the accelerator (ever since she drove around with me in the booth to locate a rattle in another car, she doesn't cooperate with these things), I put a stick there to let the engine run at 1800 rpm. The other problem is that the engine makes so much noise that it is hard to hear anything else, so I put my ear on the wheel arch. Doing this I am 100% sure that I found the cause; one of the clips holding the inner wheel arch guard in place was rattling like crazy. I have attached a photo with my quick fix to try it out. The noise this creates does indeed sound metallic, as if there was a small spanner left behind under the hood. I agree with Krypto in his other thread that the cause is a resonance and sooner or later things will start rattling. There seem to be a few common causes and this one I found yesterday can be added to the list. For now, I am very happy. I know it is a 4WD and Diesel, so as such not the quietest, but this rattle made me dislike the otherwise fantastic vehicle.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Bruggie, I had a funny 'rattle' at one stage that went away when that rubber under the windscreen got wet. Can't quite remember the solution but I think at at at at one stage I took the whole plastic assembly under the windscreen off and made some minor changes.

I also put some left over acoustic dampening material under there. My car has been silent, no rattles, for at least 10000km now. If I bought a new Prado I'd do the same vibration mod straight away.