Ok. So for the past month or so, I have been hearing this mysterious “hatch rattle” in my tC and it has been driving me nuts! So I came on the forum and looked for all the possible fixes and tried them all, but none of them worked. It was not a wire harness, it was not a loose taillight, it was not loose molding, or bump stops, or the latch mechanism, or the rear sunroof, or the spare tire, or the hatch struts. I thought, “Maybe it’s not even in the hatch.” So on Monday morning, I decided to gut the rear end of my car again. I decided to remove the roof liner by the rear dome light. First remove the two round clips.

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-10.jpg

Then unscrew the coat hanger clips. Push in the plastic and then pull it back. Then use a Philips head screwdriver or a 10mm socket to loosen the screw. Here’s the tricky part. There is a plastic “pin” that is clipped into the roof to keep the hangar from rotating. Use a thin screwdriver to unclip the pin.

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-7.jpg
http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-8.jpg
http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-9.jpg
http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-11.jpg
http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-12.jpg

Next, remove the molding on the rear where the hatch closes.

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-16.jpg

Unclip the Velcro from the edges of the roof liner, but be careful not to bend the liner or it will show a crease when you reinstall it. There are Velcro clips around the edges of the liner and one on each side under it, in the middle.

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Velcro.jpg

Now unclip the dome light by using a flathead screwdriver to depress the clips.

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-17.jpg

Pull the liner down so that you have a decent amount of room to work in at the sides.

Take notice of the plastic “ribs” that are there to keep the shape of the roof liner.

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-20.jpg

Give them a little tap, sound familiar? The ribs come loose after a little driving and make that dreadful noise. Put a little bit of thin foam tape between the ribs and the metal of the roof.

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/images/hatch_rattle/Untitled-26.jpg

Problem solved! (It worked for me). And I haven’t heard the rattle for 200miles so far.

I hope this works for everyone!

Good luck!

- Dante

PS.... I did this on BOTH sides

awesome info, sticky this plz MOD

d,

awesome!. . . it looks like you saved a lot of us some time and head ache. . . i was planning on doing the same thing when i put on my new TRD struts/shocks/spring.. . tear apart everything until the rattle was found.

. .but, it looks like you beat me to the rattle.

great job. . .i hope it works on my tC. ..

. . figures a guy from jersey would solve the problems.

z

wow thats great dude!! im going to try it this weekend. hope it works for me! *crosses fingers*

so this rattle isn't the actual hatch then?? not the shocks or the rubber stoppers? i'll have to give this a shot!

very nice...i tried some foam tape around the panels of the hatch but didnt think that it could be under the roof liner. My rattle is coming from the right side...ill have to give it a try
THANKS :P

i'd really like to try this, but i have the side airbags. can i still gut everything like that? the panel that covers those plastic things he says are the problem is labeled SRS airbag.

.. you can probably still do it if you have the air bags.. .

.. i would just disconnect the car battery first.

also, you might have to reset some of your systems.

if i wasnt at work i would try this...also how thick was the foam tape and where can i find it?

:bow: thanx

thank you very much.... THat noise has really been ____ing me off......

if i wasnt at work i would try this...also how thick was the foam tape and where can i find it?

it's usually the foam weatherstripping you can get from like ace hardware, lowe's, home depot.. place like that.. i know on the bumper stops on mine to stop the rattles i had to get some very thick foam (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch) because it compressed when closed.. hope that helps ya..

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1016950#1016950

I have been hearing that noise forever too. After insulating my car that noise just got more annoying. I can't wait to fix it!!!!!!!!!

Man, if I can strike another rattle off my list I'll be a happy man. I'll bet this is exactly the noise I have been hearing. Thanks for all the effort!

Hey I took my car apart and I have the side curtain air bags. I don't have those plastic pieces that are in those pics.. But I found what was rattling ..
It is those plastic velcro clips that help to support the headliner.. there are two of them. I put a little RTV on the back of them and waited 20 min to dry and then put everything back together. NO MORE NOISE, praise God ! :silly: [/img]

the sound that comes from behind the passenger back (right for sure) it the plastic ribs... i got foam weathering adhesive tape and applied some to both of the ribs at the end on the left and right side... BINGO!!!

obviously, there are the normal hatch back "clangs" you will here from time to time because they are hatchbacks... but this solution for the noise you here coming from the back roof interior area for sure helps....

i found you did not need to remove the rear dome light housing (that was a pain in the azz so i did not take it out), or take apart apart the headliner completely...

had to take out both plastic plugs in the roof and thw two shirt hangers.... then remove the plastic molding on both sides of the hatch.. i could not get it completely off but the first couple of "popcorn" locks came undone and that gave me enough room to get at the plastic ribs that smack the medal of the roof... that is what makes this noise...

as stated, be careful cause those "popcorn" fasteners on the hatch molding can snap easliy... broke the bottom one and it fell somewhere... i don't hear it anywhere but i was hoping that this would not be rattling around now...

i probably will spell it wrong but great work dachmo... no way would dealers figure this out and that is a shame... this fix should be available to all service centers!!!

Well I believe I am getting closer but that freaking noise or some rattle noise is back!
There is a TSIB out at the dealers to change the hatch supports(shocks) but I heard that doesn't do crap. There seems to be many noises we are all experiencing but to everyone who has taken their car apart 'don't loose hope" !

1. try to use a good and rubber safe lubricant on the hatch stops(those black rubber things.)

2.leave the hatch partially open( use a towel to cover the latch so it doesn't close) then go for a drive and listen.... if your noise is still there it is not in the hatch !

3. pray that God will help you find that rattle.

Well I put some special lubicant on the rubber stops and plastic part that rests on it and I don't know if it's the cold weather or not but I truly don't hear that noise I've been hearing now for months. ! Praise God !

Hey I don't know about u guys but I'm sure glad that one of the sales managers at my local toyota dealer owns a scion tc. When they're own need it fixed it gets DONE! hehe

Well to make a long story short, as soon as I brought the car in, and took the tech for a test drive, he knew what the problem was. He even had his suspicions before we went out to test drive.

Here was the problem. The rubber stoppers on the sides were not expending low enough so that the hatch would bounce and that would cause a rattle. Now I knwo this might not be the case for everyone, but for my hatch rattle it was. Some people have recommended taping some foam tape to these stoppers but that is only temporary, what you have to do is adjust the stoppers. Yup thats all you do! Unscrew them and set them lower. EASY and it worked for me.

I'll take some pictures and post. I feel great! and I love my TC even more now that it doesn't rattle!

i havent heard anything yet...mine is an 05 with 32k miles.....should i hear it soon?

i havent heard anything yet...mine is an 05 with 32k miles.....should i hear it soon?

You will if you start making you car stiffer.. ( lower springs, more agressive struts, ect.)

good job

Hey I don't know about u guys but I'm sure glad that one of the sales managers at my local toyota dealer owns a scion tc. When they're own need it fixed it gets DONE! hehe

Well to make a long story short, as soon as I brought the car in, and took the tech for a test drive, he knew what the problem was. He even had his suspicions before we went out to test drive.

Here was the problem. The rubber stoppers on the sides were not expending low enough so that the hatch would bounce and that would cause a rattle. Now I knwo this might not be the case for everyone, but for my hatch rattle it was. Some people have recommended taping some foam tape to these stoppers but that is only temporary, what you have to do is adjust the stoppers. Yup thats all you do! Unscrew them and set them lower. EASY and it worked for me.

I'll take some pictures and post. I feel great! and I love my TC even more now that it doesn't rattle!

Yeah, my hatch is loose and it bounces a bit, but when I loosened the bolts on the rubber stops on the hatch door, there was no movement...Same way with their counterpart on the body of the car. How do you adjust the stops?

Hey I don't know about u guys but I'm sure glad that one of the sales managers at my local toyota dealer owns a scion tc. When they're own need it fixed it gets DONE! hehe

Well to make a long story short, as soon as I brought the car in, and took the tech for a test drive, he knew what the problem was. He even had his suspicions before we went out to test drive.

Here was the problem. The rubber stoppers on the sides were not expending low enough so that the hatch would bounce and that would cause a rattle. Now I knwo this might not be the case for everyone, but for my hatch rattle it was. Some people have recommended taping some foam tape to these stoppers but that is only temporary, what you have to do is adjust the stoppers. Yup thats all you do! Unscrew them and set them lower. EASY and it worked for me.

I'll take some pictures and post. I feel great! and I love my TC even more now that it doesn't rattle!

Yeah, my hatch is loose and it bounces a bit, but when I loosened the bolts on the rubber stops on the hatch door, there was no movement...Same way with their counterpart on the body of the car. How do you adjust the stops?


TTT

nice job. I just noticed my rattle recently I might try this while at lunch. Where I work at actually recycles these foam so I can just get it and try.

can someone descibe the rattle sort of?? i dont know if its the same one i have. it sounds like its coming from the passenger side rear... only when i hit bumps. i might try this if it sounds like it.

you know what I have 4 10's in my trunk an there is alot of things that rattle I really dont care I have over 500$ of dynamatt in my car I did behide the driver back the floor the sides an the deck lid an the roof an it still rattles--

here's a quick fix.
step one-take it to the dealership
step two-have them fix it,that is why your paying for the warranty

Sweet fix. That's been drivng me nuts. Hope the folks at Toyota fix this at the factory level.

I did eDead behind those ribs when I did the interior and stereo, and that took care of the noise from up there. However there is still something back around the rear passenger wheel well...

And the dealer is worthless. At least here. They don't want to help out with finding rattles.

NICE! this fixed the last rattles I've had in the car, now its silent! i put a layer of carpet padding on the headliner where the smaller ribs are, and put a phat piece behind the big one. I did this to both side and put more carpet padding on the headliner in front and around the sides and even the back of the dome light in the rear. Freakin awesome, thats all i gotta say :) cheers to this fix

very helpful post, I'm going to open my hatch up tomorrow, and try to get rid of that annoying rattle. THANKS ALOT

another good place to stuff some padding, would be the wiring from the hatch that runs up the hatch to the middle of the roof in the rear. the wiring that runs through there, has a lot of white clips that hold it up, at various points. those can get loose, and make a tapping sound on the metal of the hatch. and so can the black loom, that holds the wiring.

what i did was put some carpet padding behind the black loom parts leading from the hatch, to the top of the roof. as well as put some behind the white clips that run this wiring. i also did the wiring and clips for the hatch lid itself.

so in short, put some thick padding behind the wiring, and white clips from the hatch lid. and do the same for the wiring thats running on the left side of the hatch, from the lid to the side of the glass, leading to the roof.

that should solve a lot of rattling issues as well.

Dealer told me they need to order a new moonroof gasket or something like that to fix my rattle. Sounds like the same rattle you guys are talking. I wonder what theyd do if I told them to try this fix first.

Wow awesome.

I just purchased mine a week ago and have the side airbags. I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't lowered it my car yet. Hope this problem doesn't occur. If it does, I wonder how will it be resolved with the side airbag?

Again, good job!

here's a quick fix.
step one-take it to the dealership
step two-have them fix it,that is why your paying for the warranty

my steps :
step 1 - called dealer. dealer didn't know about the problem or fix. I might have to leave it overnight.
step 2 - toyota customer service didn't know about the problem. or so they say.
step 3 - called dealer #2. he said" hmm you have a 2006..its only on the 2005 models." but at least he said he would spend the time to look at it if i brought it in. but they're not open weeekends.
step 4 - check SL where people here definitely know about the problem.
step 5 - $4 rubber stoppers and 5 minutes later i have my fix.

yeah, going back and forth to the dealer (some people here on as many as 3 separate visits)...i don't have that kind of free time. and for $4 versus an overnight stay at the dealer. that's a no-brainer.

:bow: Dude i wanna hump ure leg. Im going to Home depot tomorrow and i WILL fix that damn rattle. Im annoyed that the dealerships are just to retarded to come up with a fix themselves... but whatever. SL is my bestfriend sometimes :love:

My rattle is even worse now after going to the dealer.
Right after it was done the rattle was gone for about 2 days, then it came back. Now on top of that rattle it now rattles along the sides. If I push up or pull down on the lining around the suicide bars it goes away, let go and it starts again. Silliest thing is that when you push up and release you can hear the lining pull away from the velcro, they dont stick together any more. Id take it back to the dealer but that has to wait till the main road opens up and I dont have to take bumpy gravel roads anymore. Any Ideas.

mine too is worst now from going to the dealership.... I'm pretty convinced that the rattle is coming from right in between where the two panel flaps roll into. If I could just take that off and play around with it I'm sure I could locate it......so frustrating

I'll take some pictures and post. I feel great! and I love my TC even more now that it doesn't rattle!

PICS???????? ????

yeah, if my roof didn't creak and rattle, it would be a good car. now it is just annoying and embarrassing to drive people around in because they always ask about it...

all the rattles seem to be different, for example my rattle sounds like a peanut in a coke can that makes noise on any road that isn't prefectly paved.

well my hatch doesn't rattle anymore. What little rattle I had there disappeared once I installed my Ignalls Rear Strut Bar. The rattle I have now is a creaking even over uneven surfaces...the moon-roof glass creaks as it flexes with the body. Wish there was something that could be done about it. the dealer has fixed it, but it eventually comes back after being flexed back and forth while driving a while. It sucks.

I have the ingalls strut bar installed too, and I actually think it makes it worse, but I love the strut itself so it stays. But yeah if I just had the doe to buy the kaminari replacement roof I'd take out all three glass pieces, cut off the black cross bar that the flaps roll into, and weld new 2" itch tubes in place, then put the cf roof on. Ive been emailing back and forth with rick from raammatt who did this mod and he said its the only real way to be rid of the squeeks, rattles and pops we all deal with......

Some one recently asked me if I had had any luck with my roof problem.

Just in case anyone in the future is interested, here is my response.



Yeah, in fact about a month ago it was a nice, fairly warm Saturday, I was driving back from getting breakfast with a friend and I had finally had it. As soon as I pulled into my drive way, I got the necessary tools and I pulled out the handle bars, the coat hooks, the sun shades, everything. Then I started in the back and slowly and carefully pulled down the head liner. I wasn't super concerned with creasing it- I was so freaking heated by that point, so keep that in mind, but if you use a little bit of tact you can bend it "just so" and take it down, be careful of the two dome lights.
Anyhow so I got it down in less than 5 minutes, I can't believe I didn't have the guts to do it before, its only held up by industrial velcro. Anyhow, so I got it down, and took some time to tap around and look up there. I felt like taking down that cross bar between the two roofs, so I went to my local dealer to get copies of the service manuel to do it. He gave them to me, but warn me that because its glass it has to stay fairly loose up there, tightening it too much and you risk doing serious damage. I figured if I can't "fix" the rattle, then maybe I can dampen it or something.
So I looked at the inside of the headliner and I saw some indentations along the plastic liner that is used to hold the velcro. I went into the garage and found the last few feet of my RAAMaudio deadener and cut it into several inch by two inch pieces. (I know I know, pictures would certainly help right now, but at the time this project was truely an impluse job.) So yeah, I covered just about every part of the interior part of the head liner with RAAMaudio. The trick was to leave enough clearence in areas around the velcro tabs-also be careful towards the front where the sunroof mechanism is. If you lay it on too thick the velcro tabs won't be able to connect when it goes back up. So yeah. I placed the headliner back up. I put everything back in place, and though there might be an occassional shadow of a rattle you really have to strain to hear it.

Also a big rattle I found and eliminated was the plastic trim piece on the top of the rear windshield. I took that off and thought about putting a towel or something in there(as suggested earlier in the thread). I decided against it and when I put that trim piece back on, I noticed there was a little bit of play; and that it made a loud sound when I lightly tapped on it. So what did I do? RAAMaudio deadener again. I put a 12 inch long and half an inch thick strip on the trip piece at the part where it rests on the glass then put it back on- absolutely silent.

So all in all I might have just saved myself about $1000-1500 from no longer having to buy the cf replacement roof and have it installed. Hope this helps anyone who is driven insane by the constant little noises. Good luck.

Awsome!

ttt

Looking for an update here from the thread creator. Still without hatch rattles?

Sweet!

yeah, if my roof didn't creak and rattle, it would be a good car. now it is just annoying and embarrassing to drive people around in because they always ask about it...

omg XFRIGGIN2! thats exactly how i feel. its bad enough having to drive to work at 7:30 and just want some peace and quiet.... try having a 7 year old sitting back there, right under the rattle, constantly asking, "daddy, what is that noise?" "daddy, can u make that noise stop?" etc.. etc...

its ridiculous. I never expected scion to anticipate that this problem would occur, but once it does occur and is obviously a common defect.... man up to it. spend some time researching it and coming up with a fix....instead of just being totally focused on moving cars off the lot.

Here was the problem. The rubber stoppers on the sides were not expending low enough so that the hatch would bounce and that would cause a rattle. Now I knwo this might not be the case for everyone, but for my hatch rattle it was. Some people have recommended taping some foam tape to these stoppers but that is only temporary, what you have to do is adjust the stoppers. Yup thats all you do! Unscrew them and set them lower. EASY and it worked for me.

I'll take some pictures and post. I feel great! and I love my TC even more now that it doesn't rattle!

could you post some picture about this stoppers? This hatch rattle is killing me...

thank you ^^

thanks alot i just tryed this and i couldent hear a thing when driving on a bumpy road....only took about 10-15 minutes too

I will try this, grat post!

Here was the problem. The rubber stoppers on the sides were not expending low enough so that the hatch would bounce and that would cause a rattle. Now I knwo this might not be the case for everyone, but for my hatch rattle it was. Some people have recommended taping some foam tape to these stoppers but that is only temporary, what you have to do is adjust the stoppers. Yup thats all you do! Unscrew them and set them lower. EASY and it worked for me.

I'll take some pictures and post. I feel great! and I love my TC even more now that it doesn't rattle!

could you post some picture about this stoppers? This hatch rattle is killing me...

thank you ^^

It's been a while since this was asked for, but I figured I'd chime in also. I tried unscrewing the stoppers and setting them lower, with no change in the rattle sound. So I opted for the foam tape option and so far so good - the annoying rattling in the back is finally silenced! Yay and holy crap. :clap: And since no one has produced pics of exactly how the stoppers look with the foam tape applied, I decided I'd add a few.

The type of foam tape - Weatherstripping tape from Advance Auto Parts (just like Auto Zone). The white side is the adhesive side, the black the rubber side - the tape itself is made of foam:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Daspoo/Forum%20Images/100_9232.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Daspoo/Forum%20Images/100_9233.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Daspoo/Forum%20Images/IMG_0015.jpg

The left side of the hatch and its "rubber stopper". I simply placed the weatherstripping tape on the stopper so that it exists between the stopper and its catch on the body of the car. You can already see the indention in the tape of where it met the catch when the hatch was closed:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Daspoo/Forum%20Images/IMG_0019.jpg

The right side of the hatch and its "rubber stopper". Same deal as the previous:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Daspoo/Forum%20Images/IMG_0017.jpg

As I said before, so far so good - no more rattle. I know this fix won't help everyone, but hopefully the pics will help make the fix mentioned crystal clear for the next guy/gal. Cheers and good hunting!

Just in case any of you don't have the updated hatch supports.. those might be your problem!!

I recently installed the oem pedestal spoiler and installed the new beefier hatch supports it comes with. Well I started to hear that dang noise again (it was fix a year ago). Well after hours of checking things, I installed my previous hatch supports and..... no noise!!!

Sorry I don't have that part# at the moment but all of you should check that before you start ripping your hair out. lol

Good deal, I'll have to try this ASAP. My 09 tC is already starting to rattle in the hatch, Moon Roof, and lower dashboard areas. Hopefully this will fix one of the issues.

W00T! Found my rattle!

I had the rattle that sounded like a Snapple lid getting pushed constantly.

To find it, I had a friend ride in back and press on panels until the noise stopped.

Mine was these four little velcro tabs had come lose in front of the rear dome light. So i just popped down the dome light (no tools needed) and took off the adhesive side of the velcro near the rear sun roof.

No noise! Well, aside from occasional hatch rattle but thats lower in tone and not annoying.

Fixed mine.. it was the rubber stop on the hatch .. but just the left side.. both pieces didnt close all the way.. found some sort of rubber piece at home.. now no rattle.. i will post pics soon.

Picture posted.
I may have to trim that piece little bit.. at least it covers the gap between hatch and the body panel.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Tony_tC_SP/101_2568.jpg

^^ wow the factory stopper looks way different than mine.. i should find a pic of mine. i wonder why they changed the design.

...definitely hoping that this is the fix for mine. That rattle has been driving me off the wall. I also need to figure out the rattle that's in the headliner just above the driver's seat.