ZNaught

Recently, I had my control arm bushings and motor mounts replaced (exactly the same as this poster) and ever since I have had a rattle that sounds like a loose bolt or something rolling around in front of the driver. It is very obvious at low speeds (~30 mph and lower) and is audible when going over small bumps or accelerating/decelerating. It doesn't sound like any rattle I've heard in this car before (plastic-on-plastic) which I have fixed quite a few of myself in the door panels, etc.

I've brought my vehicle back to the dealer 3x to address this issue. Each time, I was able to show the shop foreman the odd noise (even having them replicate it) only for them to call me 2-3 days later telling me that they "can't reproduce it" and to send me on my way with the issue still persisting. They ended up essentially telling me that there was nothing they would do and that my vehicle was safe to drive. This is very frustrating since these sounds really make the car sound cheap.

I ended up purchasing all of the repair manuals for my vehicle on erWin in an attempt to start tracking this down myself. I have initially removed the lower steering column trim panel, footwell cover, and driver side instrument panel cover/storage compartment. Unfortunately, this didn't locate the issue, but made the sound more apparent. My guess is the sound is either originating from the instrument panel or from outside the passenger compartment, but these seem a bit more in-depth to remove.

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

dregsfan

If you didn't have the noise prior to the dealer replacing control arm bushings and motor mounts, why are you searching inside the car for the cause?

ZNaught

Mainly to rule out that area since it is more accessible to me and based on the dealer suggesting everything is "safe" and that they couldn't find anything in the areas they worked on (or so they claimed).

dregsfan

"Safe" doesn't mean there can't be something loose, like a screw or a nut rolling around somewhere, as you said you suspect, on the engine side of the firewall. They had no reason to touch anything inside the car.

SchwarzS6

A common source of rattles at low speeds is an exhaust heat shield hitting the car or one of the heat shield mounting points is broken. It is possible that when replacing the engine mount a heat shield was damaged/bent when they supported the engine to replace the mounts. Check the heat shields around the catalytic converters. Bang them with your fist and see if they rattle also try grabbing them and see if they are loose.

142 guy

If they changed the motor mounts and it sounds like "something rolling around", I would be inclined to have a look at the area around the motor mounts. In particular, I recall the area around the sub frame has some areas where something like a nut could get trapped. Perhaps a mechanic dropped something down there during re assembly. There are other places along the inner fender where a dropped nut could get trapped and rattle around.

I don't know about the B9; but, on the B9.5 there is a thing called the support bearing. If that wasn't tightened up there will be a lot of noise; but, it would not sound like things rolling around. There is also a heat shield on the top of the mount (at least on the right side) that might be rattling.

ZNaught

I gave the one nears the cats a banging and they didn't seem any looser than is probably reasonable for a thin sheet metal piece. Don't have great access to the ones under the engine since I have the lowered suspension and no way to hoist the care unfortunately.


I've looked around as much as I can without taking anything apart, but unfortunately I don't have great access and don't have a way to lift the vehicle. I did have the drive shaft bearing replaced a couple of years ago due to squealing before the car had warmed up, but that was some time ago.

Is it worth bringing into another dealer or shop? My car is still under extended warranty for the next year or so.