[DavidR22]

To follow up, that wiring harness was not the cause of the vibration/rattle. I chased a few other rabbit trails to no avail when my wife told me she felt like it was coming from behind the middle ac vent on the passenger side.

I did some additional poking around and discovered that the ac duct leading to that vent was loose and could possibly be “rattling around”. I wanted to secure it to the metal brace above it with a zip but I couldn’t get a zip tie around so I resorted to good old duct tape. I’ve driven 100 miles since doing this and the rattle has not made an appearance - yet.

 

[DavidR22]

See the picture below:

• remove the dash trim
• detach the wiring harness the arrow points to and push it back out of the way; a needle nosed plier works well to squeeze the prongs
• at this point you can look inside behind the ac vent and you should be able to see the duct; I have small hands and can reach inside and touch the duct

I hope this helps

 

[DavidR22]

Thank you. So to clarify, its is behind these yellow-end ribbon cables, right?

It’s directly behind the ac vent with the arrow pointing to it. You have to move the yellow-ended ribbon cables out of the way to see back in there and to get your hand back in there.

 

[DavidR22]

Brief update: the ac duct was not the cause of the vibration/rattle.

I’ve gone down a few other rabbit trails to no avail but I’m not finished yet. To be continued…

 

[DavidR22]

Did you ever find the issue we have the same issues.

I don’t know. Every time I think I’ve fixed it, after a few days it starts up again. Just to reiterate, what I experience is more of a fast plastic vibration than a rattle. It doesn’t happen when you go over a pothole but it does happen, intermittently, on roads that are not smooth. If you take the side of your fist and pound on the padded trim in front of the passenger seat it will go away for a while.

Here’s what I believe is happening:

There’s what I’ll call a dash frame that the padded trim pieces and the piano black pieces on the dash snap into. On roads that aren’t smooth I believe that frame, at times, has a vibration. When the frame vibrates there are numerous places where things that snap into it or touch it may vibrate.

I’ve cushioned as many of those spots as possible with rubber washers and dense foam insulation and that has certainly helped. I also noticed that it became worse as the original tires wore down to where they needed to be replaced.

I cushioned a some spots a few days ago and put new tires on it two days ago and haven’t heard it since but it wouldn’t be the first time that it was gone for a few days and then came back.

If I could figure out how to post short videos from my iPhone here I would show you a few examples of what I’m seeing.

 

[DavidR22]

how do you remove the dash trim in the first place? 😅

The dash trim snaps in place with clips. It can be pried out by hand or using a plastic pry tool that you can buy from an auto parts store. I started with the long skinny part of the trim that runs under the HVAC controls, worked my way over to the area in front of the passenger seat and them to the long skinny part behind the touch screen.

 

[DavidR22]

My dash rattle, which has been fixed, was, I believe due to at least one of the clips on the dash trim vibrating on rough roads. I put dense foam and rubber washers on the back side of the trim around the clips and snapped everything back into place. That finally fixed it.

Of course now I have a new annoying rattle in the drivers side door panel. It seems to be coming from the shiny, black plastic area of the door pull. 😩😫

 

[DavidR22]

Hi. Can you please show a picture how you fixed the dash clip

I’m sorry but I don’t have a picture.