ARGH, door rattle! Help!

[Markus]

I should never have said my Brava was a rattle-free zone, darn darn. I now have a strange rattling sound in the driver side door, sounds like a small piece of plastic rattling against plastic or something. The rattle is quite loud and there all the time, even a slightly uneven road is enough to make it rattle.

Most of the rattle goes away if I open the window, anything from one inch to all the way. I can also make the rattle worse by pressing the top part of the side window out a bit. The rattle started out faint, but got significantly worse after I had taken the doorcard off to find the sound and then put it back on.

Apparently it's the window or something connected to the window that's causing the rattle, but what exactly? Any ideas would be appreciated, drowning the rattle with the stereo isn't a sustainable strategy..

 

[Tom]

Easy, you have not put the door trim back properly

Its the clips along the top edge.

 

[Nick]

The plastic clips that hold the arms that connect the door handle to the lock can break and then they are free to move up and down the arms. Makes a tapping noise but tends to be worse when you slam the door. May also be one of the arms itself. Easy enough to check - does the door open OK from inside and outside?

Of course it could be something simple like a loose trim clip....

 

[Markus]

door rattle

I checked the plastic clips when I had the doorcard off, they seemed fine. And I don't think it's a loose trim clip, because when I took the card off, all the clips were off the card, stuck in the door. I took them out and put them back on the top edge of the doorcard, there were marks so I could see where they had been.

What puzzles me is the sound goes away almost completely as soon as I open the window, even as little as half an inch or so...

Anyone?

 

[Tom]

Re: door rattle

It IS the clips along the top

 

[Markus]

Rattle

Tom, hmm. Elaborate! Show me the light, your reward will be plentiful.

 

[Tom]

Re: Rattle

1) Remove door trim.
2) with large screwdriver remove plstic trim from the top of the door (where the window is)
3) shake the clips out of this bit of trim
4) replace trim
5) push clips onto top of the door trim
6) replace door trim
7) open window
8) put big screwdriver into door (avoid the window!) and use it to lever the plastic window trim against the door trim
9) thump the door trim with your hand to make the clips pop into place

 

[Markus]

rattle

Tom, I'll look like an ass while doing this, but I'll give it a try tomorrow when it's light out & report back. Thanks