After 47 years of ownership of my 2000 Mk 2 I thought I had learned a little about keeping it up to scratch and recently celebrated 200000 miles of ownership of the car. Pride before a fall: a few days ago it developed a rattle, only obvious on coarse-chip sealed roads (and there a lots here.) It seemed to me to be coming from the area of the glovebox,on the left side of the dashboard assembly. Wife thought it was on the right. I removed many parts, one at a time, and tested the car: no luck. I removed: glovebox lid, glovebox, lh parcel shelf, square vent in centre dash panel, lower central (radio and heater controls) panel , radio, pulled its wiring clear, transmission cover , and pulled instrument panel clear of its mounting. Only loose fitting I found was a nut securing the central dash panel with the square vent and clock (it has PI instrument panels.) Any ideas from the experts out there? I know sounds can travel but there is nothing obvious under the bonnet (removed the heater air intake grille to check below it) and windscreen wiper fittings seem secure. The rattles seem to be coming from the centre and there can't much remaining to check! I guess tomorrow's job might be to get front of the car up on the ramps so I can take a close look at . everything!
lakeview3,
Dec 16, 7:25am
Lol this reminds me of our 1971 triumph 2000! We had a boot rattle that drove my dad nuts, so much so that mum had to drive him around while he was locked in the boot! He never did get to the bottom of it! We had it since brand new as well!
Our later triumph 2.5TC also had some rattles but by that time we were all over it! The worst thing was the clunking universal joints!
tamarillo,
Dec 16, 8:00am
Best idea I have is to find it as it rattles with a stethoscope if you can find one. Need to isolate smaller area to search!
franc123,
Dec 16, 8:09am
Surely getting someone to drive it on the roads where it can be reproduced and you sitting in the passenger side would be the best way to trace it. Unintended contact between things like air ducts and other parts behind the panel is common, even radio wiring that's not secured properly can make noise under the right conditions. Theres good reasons why manufacturers use foam to wrap looms and isolate parts with it.
intrade,
Dec 16, 6:35pm
ok here is my take on this. I have a old mate . he has a mayda 626 carburettor pinging and knocking on 91. He complains about some noise in the dash. I went with him for a drive and of course he did hear the noise and i did hear 100 other noises. Its only the new noise that you are not used to that you hear and what bothers you. the other louder noises you tuned out over the years lol. like the knocking like a machine gunfrominsidethengine
poppy62,
Dec 16, 7:38pm
Dub! you don't mention the severity of the rattle, my first suspicion would be to check the sway bar link bushes/ joints. Have you got a sunglasses clip attached to your sunvisor, they are notorious for rattling (albeit a very light rattle). You say that your Mrs says opposite side to what you reckon, therefore I'm thinking that it is from above your head, interior light/bulb?. My tuppence worth!
dublo,
Dec 16, 9:14pm
Thanks Poppy (and everyone else.) Still working on the problem. The rattle (light plastic on plastic, plastic on metal or metal on metal sort of sound) still seems to be coming from the centre console/heater area . I have just removed the rh parcel shelf and the oil pressure gauge I fitted 40+ years ago - its bracket may have fouled the centre console, but rattle is still there. Will take a look under the car to see if there is anything amiss , then take it out with wife driving while I prod and poke around that central console area. On smooth roads it is (almost!) as good as new, it's just the coarse chip surfaces which create the rattle.
gettinggrey,
Dec 16, 10:51pm
Had a weird 'rattle' in my fairly new XC Falcon (yeah, it was years ago!). Could not pin it down, and seemed to be from somewhere in the centre of the dash. Finally found the little sod by accident. I touched the interior mirror to adjust it and the rattle stopped. Took my hand away and the rattle started again. The mirror base was glued (by the factory) to the inside of the windscreen. The mirror then attached to the base and was held by a wee grub screw. A minor tightening job on that screw and all was quiet again (just how a good XC should be).
socram,
Dec 16, 11:55pm
Good luck. You say it sounds like plastic on plastic or metal on metal. I would have thought that you'd be able to tell the difference!
If it has only just started, maybe something small and loose has entered the system (heating duct from the screen? small stone?) or has gradually shifted - droopy wiring?
If it is only on chip, have you tried bouncing on each corner? Does it happen over a speed bump? Maybe it is a piece of the coarse chip?
Waterblast the underside/engine bay?
We look forward to the result!
dublo,
Dec 17, 12:03am
And I am growing even greyer! Looked under the car this morning - checked speedo drive cable which may have been touching body. Fixed that with a short rubber sleeve (heater hose.) Everything else fine (recent WoF) but the noise still evident. Tried coasting down the road in neutral and even turning off the engine - no joy. Wife drove the car while I investigated possible sources but no luck - but vibration/chatter definitely seems to be coming from the heater area behind and below the centre of the dashboard area . Removing the heater is a major operation on Mk II Triumphs, so might call on our friendly garage and see if they have any ideas.
richardmayes,
Dec 17, 12:32am
Drive faster - the wind noise around the door rubbers will mask the rattle!
saxman99,
Dec 17, 12:52am
Great big loud stereo.
m16d,
Dec 17, 1:26am
50 cent coin in the ash tray.
dublo,
Dec 17, 1:28am
FOUND THE CAUSE! On my way to the garage and noticed slight vibration in the interior rear vision mirror. Used the dipping lever to adjust it a little, the vibration stopped and the noise stopped. Sure enough, something loose or worn out in that little mechanism. Now to raid the spares shed to find a better mirror, then all the hours of work refitting the radio, parcel shelves etc etc. Oh well, it helps to pass the time! (While everything is accessible, I will remove and clean out all the heater ducts - after 50 years there is a considerable amount of dust in them and no doubt a lot of sneeze-inducing pollens. No cabin air filters in those days.) Thanks for all the comments, getting grey had the answer!.
gettinggrey,
Dec 17, 1:38am
Yay, yes. it's hard to believe that a dinky wee mirror could be such a noise maker.
richardmayes,
Dec 17, 1:49am
Well done! You know you're driving a good car when there's only one stand-out noise that you notice.
Our Falcon was so quiet at 100km/h, that you could often hear the slipstream noise / tyre nosie / exhaust noise of the car ahead of you on the road, not bad for a budget station wagon! But there are so many suspension joints in the front of those, there was always a knock or a clonk from something on the rougher roads. The "new" Toyota Estima transmits a bit of road noise, and the wind whistles around the eaves of it a little bit, but no rattles, bangs or clonks.
franc123,
Dec 17, 2:03am
One of the weirdest suspension knocks I ever had to fix in a car was a bizarre knock that occurred on corrugated road surfaces, turned out the front springs had sagged and distorted to the point that they were rubbing on the strut tube, it was only when the coils were really being worked that the noise occured. Took a while to find that one
lakeview3,
Dec 17, 6:01am
excellent!
pdc1,
Dec 18, 8:36am
I had a mate that used to work at the assembly plant in Nelson. It was his joke to tape a nut tied onto a piece of string to a hidden area where it would swing and rattle against a door panel, Pillar etc, with a little note on the tape saying, “So you found me you bastard"
socram,
Dec 18, 9:47am
Congratulations! Always good to hear a positive result. Well done gettinggrey.
dublo,
Dec 18, 8:43pm
Hopefully he didn't do that to either of our Nelson-assembled Triumphs! But the assembly quality of the 1977 one doesn't match that of the 1970 2000.
Regarding the 2000, I am undecided whether to give it a damned good thrashing as "Basil Fawlty" did to his Austin 1300, or just past its bonnet and enjoy every good moment of driving it!
dublo,
Dec 19, 2:56am
And that should have read "pat its bonnet".
gobb,
Dec 19, 9:01am
Friend of mine had a 2000,it had a rattle in the LH front.Took it for a test drive.About 10 meters up the road the LH front wheel fell off.Lucky all the nuts were in the hub cap.The day before it had been in for a tyre change.The rattle was all the nuts inside the hub cap.
dublo,
Dec 19, 8:36pm
Frightening! Hope the owner complained to the tyre shop management. When refitting a wheel I attach the nuts and tighten them as much as possible while holding the wheel to prevent it rotating, lower the car until the wheel is touching the ground, tighten all the nuts, check their tightness again, lower and remove the jack, and finally replace the hubcap.
intrade,
Dec 19, 8:47pm
as i said there is probably 100 other more loude noises. its the one that you are not used to that disturbs you. Seen a women texting then drive off in a astra same as i had and it made horrible noises way louder then my one befor it sripped the cambelt and smashed the valves. but the women was not bothered in the slightest and drove off . just as i was thini$king people in taumarunui actuarly service there cars unlike northland.
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