Fixed Vibration / Rattle in Rear Interior Area

[Sheriff]

Ever since I pruchased my used '06 (mid December), I noticed an annoying rattle coming form the rear interior area. It only occured after the engine has warmed up a little and at idle (slightly lower RPM after warm-up). Did a lot of searches here and other locations, but nothing came up that was similar to my situation.

Yesterday, I installed my new Magnaflow exhaust and during the process had the H3 idling (enjoying the new exhaust sound ) and heard the rattle, so the search was on. After a little time I realized it was coming from the jack storage area. However, nothing that I did to tighten the jack (even shoving towels around it) would eliminate the vibration noise.

I was just about to give up when I closed the back door and went around to the drivers seat and noticed the sound was gone!! I went back and opened the door and noticed that I had left the plastic cover off by accident. I put the plastic cover back on, closed the door, and sure enough the rattle was back. It is hard to believe that such a lightweight cover would cause that much noise, but when I added a little rubber padding around the edges and re-installed the cover, the noise was eliminated!

Thought I would share this in case anyone has a mysterious noise they can't find. Maybe this is unique to my H3, but who knows, this might help someone in the future!!

[gmpartsdude]

I'm glad you found it. Thanks for sharing your experience. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack!

[Big Dad]

Ditto, thanks X2!

Now if you could find that annoying distortion sound emulating from my left rear speaker, at certain bass levels only, we'd be in business....

[Sheriff]

Originally Posted by Big Dad

Ditto, thanks X2!

Now if you could find that annoying distortion sound emulating from my left rear speaker, at certain bass levels only, we'd be in business....

I'd love to help if i could, but I get total brain shutdown on anything electrical related! From a mechanical side I could probably take my H3 apart and put it back together as long as someone was there to hook all the wires back up!!

[Big Dad]

Originally Posted by Sheriff

I'd love to help if i could, but I get total brain shutdown on anything electrical related! From a mechanical side I could probably take my H3 apart and put it back together as long as someone was there to hook all the wires back up!!

It's not electrical, I just have to pull the inner door panel and find whatever's loose. Too lazy and don't trust the service department (dealer) to do it without jacking something up.

Throwing some SRV into the CD with the bass maxed out usually brings out the bone chilling vibration in that door.

[kma]

the door is easy to pull off. just pry off the cover on the grab bar on the door, remove a couple of torx nuts an pull out the snaps on the perimeter of the door. When your done snap it back on in about 5 or 6 locations with a light tap and put back in the screws and cover.

[Big Dad]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot one night this week.

[kma]

Just be carefull when you are taking the cover off of the grab bar. there is 2 or 3 clips facing horizontal and 1 facing virticle on top. It's easy to snap them. Also, the clamps that are attached to the metal part of the door move around so you may need to move them around a bit before putting the plastic interior piece back on. In short, it's some what of a finess job, but it's easy.

also, there is another torx screw in the cut out fo the door handle/latch. Remove the circular plug to expose the additioal torx screw.

[Big Dad]

Dam dude, that last torx screw was the straw. I think it'll go to the dealer now! JK