Technical Late "B" Front End Knock / Rattle

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Technical Late "B" Front End Knock / Rattle

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Dec 5, 2006
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Wrexham, North Wales
Our 05 reg (yep one of the last) 'B' has, had from new, a mild rattle/nock from the front end somewhere. For 3 years the dealer could find nothing wrong and likewise two MOTs. I know my local council MOT station and staff well and they have been doing my MOTs for years and every MOT I ask them to be hyper critical especially when we were doing many track days. For the 'B' rattle I did the same and they push, pulled, lifted, rattled etc. everything on both the front, middle and rear of the car and found nothing.

I've recently removed the front windscreen skuttle plate access to the wiper motor area and there is nothing loose in their either. I've also buried myself upside down for ages beneath the dash on both sided of the car having a go at anything and everything I could touch or grab hold of.

I'm beginning to think it is possible steering rack noise being transmitted to the very poorly sound insulated cabin.

Does/has anybody else encountered this type of noise on the late reg 'B's?
 
Had a light metallic rattle that I couldn't find for toffee...turned out to that the bottom bolt on the heat shield had sheared and the shield was 'pinging' against the bottom of the radiator...?
 
I posted a similar story a while back about a tinny rattle coming from somewhere below the car around the drivers right foot area. The rattle was only on the over run and I could induce it by accelerating, in second or third gera, and then backing off completely. The rattle stopped as suddenly as it started and I'm still not convinced it wasnt a piece of the ceramic fins inside the cat which had broken off and was in the exhaust pipe. Such rattles can be frustrating as they tend to sound much worse than they probably are and, can be really hard to diagnose. personally, I hate any form of rattles and, much to the annoyance of the missus, once stopped and repacked ten cases of wine to stop the bottle chinking together on the way back from Calais...:D
 
I had the same with an 02 Reg B and it was a split heat shield. Then it was replaced under warranty and still the same as they did not tighten the bolts enough.

Sorry to reort that the newer B's became cheaper to produce as the orignal builder went bankrupt. The new model from 04-05 was to get rid of Fiats spare parts.

Funny as the 95 - 2000's are the best as these where all hand built. My 97 feels so much tighter than my 02 model.

They redesigned the bumpers only to make it look fresher. So you may have to go through some parts with a tooth comb.
 
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I posted a similar story a while back about a tinny rattle coming from somewhere below the car around the drivers right foot area. The rattle was only on the over run and I could induce it by accelerating, in second or third gera, and then backing off completely. The rattle stopped as suddenly as it started and I'm still not convinced it wasnt a piece of the ceramic fins inside the cat which had broken off and was in the exhaust pipe. Such rattles can be frustrating as they tend to sound much worse than they probably are and, can be really hard to diagnose. personally, I hate any form of rattles and, much to the annoyance of the missus, once stopped and repacked ten cases of wine to stop the bottle chinking together on the way back from Calais...:D

I have the same problem, today I was under the car for a good 5ive minutes. It ended up being something to do with the exhaust. I pulled the down pipe forward and backwards and it was creaking badly. Not sure of what it is yet but when I get my heat shield off, I will find out. I'm worried about it being a cracked manifold.
 
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