[Tokke]

Since a week or 3 my car developed a new cockpit rattle.
I would swear the noise is coming from the right front, but sometimes this is misleading. Once i asked my father to drive it so i could sit in the passenger seat, but i found sitting in the passenger seat the sound was less noticable. When i drive and i have a passenger it makes no difference to the sound.

I tried to make a video of the resonating/vibrating sound.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aj3rz51JNcMYjppq...hmXiw?e=8e4lQX

Turn up the volume and listen carfully. You can hear the sound good from 9-15 seconds and 29-33 seconds. Don't listen to the road or engine noise, but the sound in between there. Any ideas what would be the source of this. I have been through some thorough investigation already, but i have failed to find the source and i'm getting a bit desperate.
The sound in real life is more pronounced than in the video.

Any advice or tips will be appreciated.

[birdphotog]

Mine has no such sound & I'm just a shade tree mechanic. Kind of hard to tell from your video. Not from the roof area? Check for any bumper grommets missing around the hood & is the license plate secure? This would be a hard one to diagnose from afar. Sorry. I think sounds in vehicles can be transmitted from places at the other end of the car, especially if it's somewhere in the drive train.

[PerthBMW]

Hi

Just so you don't think you are insane, I heard the rattle as you noted.

You do need to be careful as in my experience with rattles, the car can actually transmit sounds from the back to the front and front to back.

In my E90 I suddenly experienced a rattle at high speed and would have bet my life on it the sound was coming from the driver's side floor area. Turned out to be that I had used the sun visor to block the sun out on the driver's side window and when I swang it back I hadn't clipped it back back in and the arm was rattling against the locking clip....it did my head in for a week before I realised what was going on.

Hope you find the source of your problem.

[Tokke]

As being in quarantine has given me lots op spare time i normally not have, o decided to look further to find my rattle.
I have spend about 5 days for 2 hours looking for the source of my rattle.
I tightened up everything under the passenger seat, checked every cable and connector under the dashboard, checked the center speaker, the roof function center, the amplifier in the back, all possible lines and trim pieces under the hood. I have dampened with foam every little piece with some play on it that i thought it could be causing a rattle. I also checked all the panels under the car.
I have to say that looking in all those areas the X3 has been well put together, but still i found some places for improvement.

Anyhow, the result of all this work for the past 2 weeks has been that i still experienced the rattle i was looking for

But as it was sunday today, and i had nothing else to do i had another go at it. Delving into the passenger side a pillar I removed the sound isolation. there where some holes underneath there, i started to feel with my fingers in there and there is noticed something was loose.

Video: https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aj3rz51JNcMYjqQj...fm1Qw?e=7MbvQa

There is a bolt that connects the dash to the frame and this was sitting loose.
I tightened the screw and the rattle is gone

Now i just wonder why the bolt was loose? Did become loose because of driving vibration, or was it never tightened properly from the factory...

[BMWZ4]

Great job tracking it down. Personally, I would be thankful I found the rattle rather than worry about how it got there or if it will happen again and just move on

[Alias1431]

Originally Posted by Tokke

As being in quarantine has given me lots op spare time i normally not have, o decided to look further to find my rattle.
I have spend about 5 days for 2 hours looking for the source of my rattle.
I tightened up everything under the passenger seat, checked every cable and connector under the dashboard, checked the center speaker, the roof function center, the amplifier in the back, all possible lines and trim pieces under the hood. I have dampened with foam every little piece with some play on it that i thought it could be causing a rattle. I also checked all the panels under the car.
I have to say that looking in all those areas the X3 has been well put together, but still i found some places for improvement.

Anyhow, the result of all this work for the past 2 weeks has been that i still experienced the rattle i was looking for

But as it was sunday today, and i had nothing else to do i had another go at it. Delving into the passenger side a pillar I removed the sound isolation. there where some holes underneath there, i started to feel with my fingers in there and there is noticed something was loose.

Video: https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aj3rz51JNcMYjqQj...fm1Qw?e=7MbvQa

There is a bolt that connects the dash to the frame and this was sitting loose.
I tightened the screw and the rattle is gone

Now i just wonder why the bolt was loose? Did become loose because of driving vibration, or was it never tightened properly from the factory...

I just swapped all my speakers and I definitely encountered a couple screws that were not torqued down. I'm more inclined to think it was sloppy assembly than driving vibrations loosening them.

[Dandle]

My car developed a rattle after the windscreen was replaced. It appears to be from around the windscreen demister vent/centre speaker area. Anyway BMW are now removing and refitting the dash to fix the rattle. They removed it before the workshop closed due to covid19 and i'm now driving around in an X1 loaner until they reopen the workshop and put the car back together. Not overly impressed with the X1 if i'm honest and who knows how long this is going to be.

[EVTee]

Great job locating it OP!

Originally Posted by Alias1431

I just swapped all my speakers and I definitely encountered a couple screws that were not torqued down. I'm more inclined to think it was sloppy assembly than driving vibrations loosening them.

I have a rattle somewhere on the driver side door and centre console. Going a little crazy every time I drive but I know dealers are really bad with identifying rattles. How hard was it to remove the door panel? I feel like this is a project I can do now that we're all staying at home.

[Alias1431]

It was fairly easy. Slightly more difficult than my old Honda Accord. Hardest part is probably accessing the two handle screws. Use a trim remover. I did break one of the perimeter plastic fasteners on the passenger door. Not enough to impact reassembly. Broke as a function of pulling it out, nothing you can really do to "be careful."

[Tokke]

I thought before that i found the source of my problem with the loose nut at the dash. Sadly i realised that the noise still existed afterwards so the loose bolt was not the culprit.

So after 2 more months of desperate searching i decided to take off the a pillar cover again yesterday. Now suddenly i could hear the noise much louder than before.

Video: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aj3rz51JNcMYj4Fb...zN8VA?e=LcvRzb

My conclusion is that the rattle is coming from inside the chassis structure of the A-pillar. I noticed there seems to be a cable running through there, sadly there seems to be no way to reach this cable to fix it down.

So i decided to put some diy sound isolation behind the A-pillar cover to reduce the noise that reaches into the cabin.

It is not perfect but the sound reduce by 80-90% to the point that it is almost unaudible. If i didn't know i would never notice it.
At the next service i will ask the dealer if they know a solution to rectify it completly.

[Alias1431]

Expanding foam if you're feelin' lucky. ;-)

[Tokke]

Originally Posted by Alias1431

Expanding foam if you're feelin' lucky. ;-)

I thought about it, but that would be a last resort after the dealer fails to rectify the source of my problem.

[Tokke]

My a-pillar rattle got completly resolved today by the dealer.
They found out that the source of the rattle was that the reservoir from the windshield washers made contact with a structure beam in the engine compartment which extends to the a pillar transmiting the noise into the cabin.

I'm very happy they found it, i can again fully enjoy my car now.
Also thumbs up to the dealer for resolving this.

[freshxdough]

Originally Posted by Tokke

My a-pillar rattle got completly resolved today by the dealer.
They found out that the source of the rattle was that the reservoir from the windshield washers made contact with a structure beam in the engine compartment which extends to the a pillar transmiting the noise into the cabin.

I'm very happy they found it, i can again fully enjoy my car now.
Also thumbs up to the dealer for resolving this.

Interesting. Occasionally when pulling onto the road from my driveway to the right and when the car is jostled by the gutter I can hear a single knock noise from what seems to be the right front. I would pinpoint toward the A pillar/dash area and am familiar with the SIB for the windshield washer bottle making noise as well. I haven't had the urge to really go down behind the wheel well trim yet to resecure it but definitely may some day. Occasionally when I hear the noise I could swear I hear it toward the headliner at the A pillar but this would make sense if it's knocking and resonating into the A pillar and upward.

[spangle1980]

Originally Posted by Tokke

My a-pillar rattle got completly resolved today by the dealer.
They found out that the source of the rattle was that the reservoir from the windshield washers made contact with a structure beam in the engine compartment which extends to the a pillar transmiting the noise into the cabin.

I'm very happy they found it, i can again fully enjoy my car now.
Also thumbs up to the dealer for resolving this.

That's EXACTLY what they did for me (washer bottle fix). And the post before this (the one with the funky insulation) I would have the washer bottle checked because your video sounds EXACTLY like the noise I had. Perhaps your insulation is merely masking the transmitted noise, and the source is not where you think. Just my 2 cents - there is a BMW case they should be able to look up (case - or whatever they call the knowledge base entry).

[wandmts97]

Originally Posted by spangle1980

That's EXACTLY what they did for me (washer bottle fix). And the post before this (the one with the funky insulation) I would have the washer bottle checked because your video sounds EXACTLY like the noise I had. Perhaps your insulation is merely masking the transmitted noise, and the source is not where you think. Just my 2 cents - there is a BMW case they should be able to look up (case - or whatever they call the knowledge base entry).

spangle1980 Tokke - I was wondering if you might be able to let me know if the rattling you were hearing that was resolved by the dealer sounds like what I've been experiencing? Link here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tnw6x4m770...attle.MOV?dl=0

It sounds very much like it is coming from the front right corner (passenger side), but interestingly, similar to you tokke, when I sit in passenger side I hear it less than when I'm driving. But the video I took above is with my phone resting on the front dashboard in the corner of the passenger side.

Have brought the car to dealership twice and both times they say they found the source and corrected it, but neither time did it get rid of it. So frustrated as this car is only a few months old and hoping someone here can help. And if it indeed is the washer bottle issue I'd be thrilled as I can then point that out to the dealer versus them "trying" to find the source.

Thank you and hoping I can get some help here on this forum!!!

[moeharri]

Originally Posted by Tokke

My a-pillar rattle got completly resolved today by the dealer.
They found out that the source of the rattle was that the reservoir from the windshield washers made contact with a structure beam in the engine compartment which extends to the a pillar transmiting the noise into the cabin.

I'm very happy they found it, i can again fully enjoy my car now.
Also thumbs up to the dealer for resolving this.

Do you know what they did to resolve it? Did they tighten something down or did they have to replace the reservoir, etc.? While I couldn't listen to your videos (since they no longer exist), I think you had the same issue I've had for years in my 2019 X3 and now my 2022 X3.

My kids (sitting in the passenger seat) insist that they don't hear anything, but it's SUPER loud in the driver seat and I'd describe as a "thunking", sort of like a tennis ball shaken in a coffee can.

[moeharri]

Originally Posted by spangle1980

That's EXACTLY what they did for me (washer bottle fix). And the post before this (the one with the funky insulation) I would have the washer bottle checked because your video sounds EXACTLY like the noise I had. Perhaps your insulation is merely masking the transmitted noise, and the source is not where you think. Just my 2 cents - there is a BMW case they should be able to look up (case - or whatever they call the knowledge base entry).

Just in case Tokke doesn't see my reply directly above, do you have more details about what the dealer did to resolve this? Did they replace the bottle or tighten something, etc.? Please let me know as I have hope for the first time in over 3 years that you/Tokke may have found the solution!

[Tokke]

Originally Posted by wandmts97

spangle1980 Tokke - I was wondering if you might be able to let me know if the rattling you were hearing that was resolved by the dealer sounds like what I've been experiencing? Link here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tnw6x4m770...attle.MOV?dl=0

It sounds very much like it is coming from the front right corner (passenger side), but interestingly, similar to you tokke, when I sit in passenger side I hear it less than when I'm driving. But the video I took above is with my phone resting on the front dashboard in the corner of the passenger side.

Have brought the car to dealership twice and both times they say they found the source and corrected it, but neither time did it get rid of it. So frustrated as this car is only a few months old and hoping someone here can help. And if it indeed is the washer bottle issue I'd be thrilled as I can then point that out to the dealer versus them "trying" to find the source.

Thank you and hoping I can get some help here on this forum!!!

Hi, sorry for my late reply.
They resolved the problem by tightening down the reservoir from the washerfluid. This came loose and was vibrating to the chassis. This transmits into the cabin through the a pillar on the passenger side which is a part of the main chassis.
The reservoir is not easy to reach in the engine bay, some parts needs to be dismantled.
The dealer said that they had seen this problem also on the 5 series.
I hope this info helps you.