Another Mysterious Rattle Thread

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keylay31

New member
Hey guys,

It's been a long while since I've been active here, but the 4Runner has been running strong. So strong in fact we bought a nice new Camry for the lady. After reading through lots of fun mysterious rattle threads, I decided to ask my own. You see, my rattle comes not from the roof, the wheel well, the B pillar, or the seat, but it seems to come from the A pillar (at least thats what I think it's called). Basically the front left pillar that separates the driver window and the front windshield.

It really sounds like its coming from the deep corner (where the windshield corner is) but I've come to find out that it seems to be mostly stopped when I jam my thumb between the pillar and the dash (aka putting pressure on both). Any thoughts, experiences, or similiarities?

I tell you what, I've always loved my 4Runner, and it's always been great mechanically even with the self installed Cornfed, but this rattle is unnerving. Nothing like hearing your prized possession rattle on even a slightly rough road.
 
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keylay31 said:
Hey guys,

It's been a long while since I've been active here, but the 4Runner has been running strong. So strong in fact we bought a nice new Camry for the lady. After reading through lots of fun mysterious rattle threads, I decided to ask my own. You see, my rattle comes not from the roof, the wheel well, the B pillar, or the seat, but it seems to come from the A pillar (at least thats what I think it's called). Basically the front left pillar that separates the driver window and the front windshield.

It really sounds like its coming from the deep corner (where the windshield corner is) but I've come to find out that it seems to be mostly stopped when I jam my thumb between the pillar and the dash (aka putting pressure on both). Any thoughts, experiences, or similiarities?

I tell you what, I've always loved my 4Runner, and it's always been great mechanically even with the self installed Cornfed, but this rattle is unnerving. Nothing like hearing your prized possession rattle on even a slightly rough road.
Click to expand...

could it be something simple like the roof rack not tightened properly (the cross bar)
 
T4R 2004. I have this rattle noise ever since. Dealer not able to identify. I have this thuck for 7 years, except for that rattle, I love it. The noise usually surface during winter. So, far I did all what were discussed in the forum. Last week I even dismantled the pillar cover, removed seat belt assembly, fixed it on topmost height, padded with rubber and taped the sliding bar. Reassembled. Rattle still there. This morning, I taped the crossbars on the roofrack because it rattle when I pound it. Test run. Rattle still there. Previous things I did; lined the backseat locking "D" catch with electrical tape, taped weatherstips that were loose, put gum tape inside the door trim, etc. Nothing solved the rattling noise. Were you able to solve it?
 
I took a picture of my short term solution on my iphone, let me upload it tonight. I basically shoved a folded napkin between the dash and the pillar and that seemed to help dramatcially. About a week later, the noise came back. I pulled out the bapkin and noticed it wasnt lodged in there as good as it was before. How did you take apart the pillar? Do you have a manual/guide? I've been meaning to get in there and maybe put some foam in it or something...
 
Your fix was on the front pillar. Mine was on the mid-section. Anyway, just in case you or others may like to find out. I removed the pillar cover doing the ff:
1. Snap-off front and rear door sills.
2. Remove Seat belt anchor (bottom of the pillar)
3. Snap-off the lower cover (need to pry off from the sides
4. Remove 2 screws that hold the top cover
5. Pry off the sides and slide the top cover down
 

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My question is can my Limited V8 drive down an expressway at a constant 55 without overtaxing the engine?:nono:
 
I actually found my rattle coming from the sliding mirror cover in the visor. When I tap on the visor i can hear the rattle.
 
The only rattles i got in my WIFE'S '03 Sport V8 is the overhead rattle from the power moonroof cable, and for some reason when the AC kicks on in th summer time, there's something that sounds like a heatshield vibrating, and lately its come on when the idle goes up. I went underneath it and made sure all sheilds were tight, but im thinking its coming from that skid plate that is furthest back (looks like a skid plate attached to ANOTHER skid plate!).
 
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keylay31 said:
Here's my short term solution as described above...
Click to expand...

im a tech at lexus, and heres some quick fixes for rattles like this that we use to save the customer money.

im not sure on the clearance there is in that spot, but you will need either a flat head screw driver with the head taped so as not to scratch anything, or a plastic panel tool.

the "insulation" materials we use are either small pieces of insulating foam. or small vacuum lines. set the foam/line in the gap there, and press it in with the screw driver. you want a fat enough piece that it takes some effort to get it in the gap. but not so fat that it is sticking out and you can see it. you may have to play with different size "insulation" to get it the way you want, but this fixes the majority of rattles like that

weve been using this to fix dash rattles on gs350's for a while now. the correct fix is to pull the dash and add foam to a bunch of places, but on an out of warranty car, customers would rather have a 5 minute fix you cant see, then pay to have the dash removed
 
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