Squeaking noise inside 4Runner?

Cumby

Member
Bought a used 2005 the other week and love it so far. Very solid. I have noticed a squeaking, rattling like noise that seems like its coming from the back seat or somewhere in the cargo area. I only notice it when on rough road or significant bumps. Went down to a friends farm last weekend and it was pretty significant on a rough dirt road. Ive poked around in the back a little but can't find anything that might be causing it. Perhaps it's not coming from inside...maybe tire mount underneath? I had an old blazer that had the spare tire mounted on the side in the cargo area and had a similar type squeaking sound. Anyone experience something similar.
 
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there's some very old posts on here about this (seat latch noise)

some folks put some electrical tape on the little bar that latches in place
 
i test drove a 2003 today and it had a rattle.. the sales man and myself figured out it was the sunroof(a plastic part of some sort). when you open it the rattle stops.. when its closed and you press fairly hard on the ceiling it will stop.

thoughts? Might buy it in the morning.

hope I'm not hijacking.. i can start a new thread if need be
 
Same thing here. I folded the back seat down then raised to latch again. Seems to have worked.


Tweak, that seemed to do the trick. I let both down and put them back up again and not a sound out of it this morning. It seemed to start when I had the back seats split to carry some equipment down to the farm the other day. Interesting. If it keeps doing it I will follow up of the tape on the latch idea.
 
You can get lithium grease at any parts store probably even Walmart. I put it on the sliding part then move the seat back and forth to work it in and try to get it in the notches that set the seat position. . It helps to take the plastic trim side cover off to gain access. It just pops off. One word of warning when working under the seat around the metal frame section of the actual seat the metal has sharp edges almost like a knife. It will cut you very easily. Ask me how I know. The grease was not a permanent fix, I had to do it several times a year or as needed. Put some newspaper under the seat while lubing to prevent any grease from getting on the carpet. A Q-tip makes a nice applicator. Do not put on a ton of grease just a nice light coat. I also loosened the seat mount bolts on the floor and put some grease under there also, I do not know if this helped or not.
 
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For what it's worth I fixed my headliner squeak today. Removed the dome light. Popped down the headliner from the back of the sunroof opening. It's held on by that 3m super Velcro plastic stuff. Anyway for me there was a sticker on the top of the headliner that had partially peeled up and dried out. It was making contact with the metal roof above the headliner and squeaked like nails on a chalkboard everytime I hit a bump.
 
Just want to add for anyone with the rear seat latch squeak issue. There is a TSB about it where you take off the latch, drill the lower mounting hole bigger, reassemble with the slightly repositioned latch. Mine you could see the latch was a little too high which caused the squeak. grease would last a couple weeks. Its kind of involved to do the TSB so I took a 5 pound hammer and gave it 4 moderate taps. I saw the latch lower a bit and now it works perfect with no squeak. This process took about 30 seconds vs removing interior panels, drilling the latch, aligning, etc etc etc. :banana:

Its not often a cavemen approach works, but it worked perfectly and efficiently here.
 
Had the same noise on the passenger side of my car didn't seem like the seats more along the lines of the doors/windows maybe. Still haven't found the cause... ha
 
Had the same noise on the passenger side of my car didn't seem like the seats more along the lines of the doors/windows maybe. Still haven't found the cause... ha

check inner fender liner of passenger side.. with car off and in park.. bang on it in a few spots.. thats where my squeak comes from.. that most would swear is suspension or interior piece related...
 

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