This rattle is about to drive me nuts !!!!!

Have had a rattle in the dash on the passenger side for awhile now. Decided tonight to try and find it. Removed the glove box and the plastic part above that to reveal a heavy metal plate that I assume the passenger air bag is mounted onto.

Can't find anything that rattles by hand, but when on a bumpy road, it sounds like something heavy is rattling. I'm thinking it's the airbag, but can't get to it to see if the mounts or however it's connected are loose.

Anyone have a rattle like this and fix it ? If so, what did you do.

Thanks alot guys !!!

BTW, it's an '03 Tacoma 4dr, 2wd.

 

I have the same thing Man. All I did was put a piece of paper on the passengers side between the window and dash. I would love to find out how to really fix it though drives me nuts too.

 

yep same here. thats what i do interested to see if anyone knows why it rattles though?

 

LOL...after tearing it apart awhile ago and not finding anything I could rattle with what little room I could stick my hand in, the thought crossed my mind to get a can of that expandable foam and shoot that area full of it.......

 

Does a buzz describe it any? I do know the fix for that behind the glove box lol.. If its more of a rattle then i'm not sure. Take some wire ties and cinch all the groups of wires together tightly. That fixed the problem for me, however mine was a buzz not a rattle. Different year range too, so it may be different.

 

No, it is something that sounds heavy and the sound is like it's bumping up and down on plastic. My best description would be like having the plastic glove box completely empty and laying a crescent wrench in there and having it bouncing up and down when on a bumpy road.

 

Most folks have had luck with the wire loom under the glove box. Read through this thread.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/17102-sound-coming-passenger-side-3.html#post274847

 

Mine is intermittent, but no doubt the same irritating noise I got one thing to say:

Passenger side air bag, somewhere in the mounting thats what I was told

 

Have the same problem on mine except its on the driver side. Mine only rattles when I accelerate after a stop. I find myself hitting the dash and pushing it and out until it stops. Not sure of the exact location but it drives me crazy.

 

I think most 1st gens have this after a min of google
I want this fixed also... now i just need a day off work

2nd gen guys jumping in with their wire loom noise...

 

It's definitely not the wire loom because when I had it all torn apart, just to rule that out, I stuffed foam all around the big plugs and wire tied everything tight, put it all back together and that didn't change a thing.

It was a joke when I first posted it, but now I'm wondering about the logistics of actually shooting that foam stuff up on top of that steel plate that the airbag has got to mount to. Can't get anywhere around it to shake, push or rattle whatever is up there and that little blow away panel on the dash that comes apart upon airbag deployment apparently can't be removed to get to the airbag from the top..... or atleast I can't find anyway it's clipped or secured to the dashboard.

 

I have owned 2 2000 Pre-Runner 4 cyl regular cabs. I had this rattle in both. I lived with it the first time but finally I could not take it in the second truck and asked my mechanic to figure it out. He replaced 2 clips that hold dash down. He did everything after removing glove box. I have not had rattle since. Best $100 i ever spent.

 

got the same deal and just used a piece of cardboard on the dash

 

Where did you put the piece of cardboard? Got any pics?

 

Yeah, that's how I'd describe it.

On mine, it seemed to be comming from the defrost vent on the passenger side as each time the rattle would occur, I would simply push down a little on it and it would go away for a while. I cured this problem by cutting up some small pieces of foam and stuffing them around the vent on the passenger side.

 

Well, the most common reason is because our vents are plastic and it doesn't have a good seal against the top vent. Like others have done, sticking something in there to put pressure on the plastic vent will cause it to stop rattling.

I went a step further and removed the whole dash assembly and put some window molding type stuff around all the connected edges on all the vent pieces. When I put it back together, I seem to have missed a spot or some of the molding got pushed back, so my rattle didn't completely go away until a few hundred miles later when I guess something shifted and its been quiet for about 6 months now.

If my rattle were to ever come back at this point, I think I'd just completely remove that piece of vent (its just a V piece).

As I remember it, there is actually a TSB on how to fix the rattle (sorry, not a free recall), but its just basically putting some 3M tape in a few places.

 

If mine comes back I guess I'll try the foam fix first. I'd love to know why it happens, and how it can go away for a while. Mine was driving me crazy for a few weeks and suddenly stopped for no apparent reason.

 

OK, now somebody tell me this..... What might be any major concerns with my brainstorm I've had about squirting a little of that expanding foam stuff up on the top of that heavy metal shelf that I'm assuming the passenger side airbag is mounted to ?

I wish I knew how or what all was situated up there or could get a look at a diagram or something that shows what all is up there. Also, does anyone know if that panel that gives away upon deployment mounted on the dash can be removed or not ?

I can stick a flat blade under the edges, but don't want to apply too much pressure, but with what little I did, it seems to be mounted pretty firmly to the dash itself.

Thanks again guys !!!!!!!

 

I'd be worried about blocking something important using the expanding foam.

 

Yeah, that's one of my thoughts, one of the reasons I'd like to see or know what's up there and how it's arranged.... Paranoid about doing it, guess I'll carry the can with me and when I'm in a fit of rage and not thinking straight over being tired of hearing it is probably when I'll see what happens....