Hi New member in Lichfield. Bought a 2007 Panda 360, which is great, in great condition, looks new, has been well looked after, but there is an intermittent rattle from rear underneath. Sometimes its there, and sometimes it is not. I have looked underneath and nothing is loose. Garage has looked as well and can find no problems. Nothing loose in the car or the boot or the spare and tools, or the rear seat. Shocks changed last year, front subframe bushes just changed. Either the rattle is there, or its not. Its not there all the time. It starts or does not start with the start of the car. An then it will be there or not be there for the duration of that trip. I was hoping that someone may be able to shed a light on it. The car is otherwise, smooth, quiet and a joy to drive.
Any advice most welcome.

ElmhurstPanda said:

Hi New member in Lichfield. Bought a 2007 Panda 360, which is great, in great condition, looks new, has been well looked after, but there is an intermittent rattle from rear underneath. Sometimes its there, and sometimes it is not. I have looked underneath and nothing is loose. Garage has looked as well and can find no problems. Nothing loose in the car or the boot or the spare and tools, or the rear seat. Shocks changed last year, front subframe bushes just changed. Either the rattle is there, or its not. Its not there all the time. It starts or does not start with the start of the car. An then it will be there or not be there for the duration of that trip. I was hoping that someone may be able to shed a light on it. The car is otherwise, smooth, quiet and a joy to drive.
Any advice most welcome.

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Possible loose baffle inside exhaust box?
Jack

ElmhurstPanda said:

Hi New member in Lichfield. Bought a 2007 Panda 360, which is great, in great condition, looks new, has been well looked after, but there is an intermittent rattle from rear underneath. Sometimes its there, and sometimes it is not. I have looked underneath and nothing is loose. Garage has looked as well and can find no problems. Nothing loose in the car or the boot or the spare and tools, or the rear seat. Shocks changed last year, front subframe bushes just changed. Either the rattle is there, or its not. Its not there all the time. It starts or does not start with the start of the car. An then it will be there or not be there for the duration of that trip. I was hoping that someone may be able to shed a light on it. The car is otherwise, smooth, quiet and a joy to drive.
Any advice most welcome.

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Hi

1242cc petrol engine ?

Does the exhaust back box look rusty.. or peeling..?


(Nothing loose in the wheel well??)

Charlie

Hi and thanks for the comments. I have looked and the local old fashioned garage has looked all over and underneath. the exhaust is new. The shocks are recent. there is nothing loose anywhere. The spare and the tools are well screwed down.
The garage replaced the bushes on the subframe, one was not good. There is a suggestion than it could be that the shocks were not good ones and have failed, or that the bushes at either top or bottom of the shocks have failed, or that they were not fitted properly. Everything looks OK. The car go's back to the garage wednesday, but i am trying to avoid changing everything until the rattle stops on the basis that I could soon spend more than I did for the car!!! Its a complete puzzle to me.
Thanks for your help

Yes its the 1242 cc petrol

I had a rear rattle, turned out it was the number plate rattling on the boot!

one of the easier things to fix..

OOH ECK
See my post on "strange clutch/flywheel noise"
Or alternatively "Panda Gremlins"

Motorcyclist Colin said:

OOH ECK
See my post on "strange clutch/flywheel noise"
Or alternatively "Panda Gremlins"

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For future reference..

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-iii/481498-strange-clutch-flywheel-noise.html

ElmhurstPanda said:

Hi New member in Lichfield. Bought a 2007 Panda 360, which is great, in great condition, looks new, has been well looked after, but there is an intermittent rattle from rear underneath. Sometimes its there, and sometimes it is not. I have looked underneath and nothing is loose. Garage has looked as well and can find no problems. Nothing loose in the car or the boot or the spare and tools, or the rear seat. Shocks changed last year, front subframe bushes just changed. Either the rattle is there, or its not. Its not there all the time. It starts or does not start with the start of the car. An then it will be there or not be there for the duration of that trip. I was hoping that someone may be able to shed a light on it. The car is otherwise, smooth, quiet and a joy to drive.
Any advice most welcome.

Click to expand...

I had a 2007 Panda with three intermittent rattles over the years.

The first was the hardest to track down, and it wasn't the dealer who found it. When I drove through lying water on the left hand side it sprayed up onto the exhaust pipe which is a long pipe supported at both ends. The water cooled the left side of pipe causing it to conract and bend. This allowed the rear exhaust clamp to contact the rear heat shield causing the rattle. It was very annoying and took me a long time to figure out. Loosening and rotating the clamp fixed it. Neither FIAT nor the main dealer had heard of this happening, but, strange to relate, the heat shield shape was altered a little bit next year.

Rattle two was a worn vertical link on the anti-roll bar. The noise didn't sound as if it came from the front, but cost just £7 to replace. It's an easy job.


Rattle three was the handbrake cable. Just in front of the near side rear wheel it had come loose from the clip, and was rattling against the clip, metal to metal. Again, easy to fix. Note, there should be a rubber sleeve on the cable where it clips in.


Other than those problems I had the car for over 100,000 miles and 8 years, a brilliant car, took us to the south of France five times. I now own a 2015 Panda.