Dash buzz/rattle help

[spaber05]

Copied from an email from my Dad:

We experience a buzz when the car accelerates and the engine is operating between about 1,200 and 2,000 rpm. As soon as the rpms exceed about 2,000 the buzzing stops. The sound emanates from under the center of the dashboard, approximately under the multipurpose screen or just below it. It appears to be emanating from inside the car, not from the engine compartment. The sound is more pronounced when the car is cold. We’ve had this sound from the day we bought it.

I won't be able to get down to there place for a couple weeks to diagnose it myself. I saw a couple things about poor fitting windshields rubbing the dash, but from what I remember this is more of a buzz than a rattle, more plastic on plastic. I also suggested removing the engine cover, so we'll see if that does it.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[spaber05]

Bump, any thoughts?

 

[tomsawyer]

Did you remove the engine cover? I also had a buzzing/vibration and to me it sounded like it was coming from the dash as well. In my thread on the subject, someone asked if I was sure if it was truly coming from the dash b/c it was more likely to be coming from the engine compartment. Well, I took off the engine cover anyway and the noise is gone.

 

[spaber05]

That was my first instinct and I told my Dad to give that a shot (as I'm not down there to help). We'll see when he gets around to it, but if that's all it is, that'd be great. I'm just hoping there are some other suggestions out there that I can tackle next time I'm down there.

 

[willbt]

@spaber05

Any update on this? What did your father find out?

I was wheeling over the weekend and developed a rattle while on a terribly washboarded road. To me, sounds like its coming from beneath the dash/speedo cluster, perhaps more towards the middle of the dash, possibly behind the radio... I was however dicking around under the hood (always am, what can I say) a week back and had the engine cover removed; so now I'm wondering if that might be the culprit (I sure hope it is, because this is terribly annoying!).

One thing I have noticed about this new rattle noise is that it only appears to do it when its cold outside (was 34F this morning on my way to work and was rather loud) or when I've just started the truck from a cold start. It seem like after about 5 min of idle in the drive, or maybe 2-4 miles down the road it subsides.

I think I'll take the cover off this evening when I get home and see what happens.

 

[spaber05]

@willbt

No fix has been attempted so I don't have an answer for you right now. It seems to be coming rom inside behind the dash and mostly during cold start ups(which are becoming more frequent as we get into winter, obviously). If we attempt a fix I'll keep you posted, but let me know if you find anything when you take things apart.

 

[willbt]

@spaber05
Over the weekend while playing under the hood I removed the engine cover and have so far not heard the rattle while driving. The mornings haven't been as cold as they were though, but so far I'm deeming this as a success.

Again, thanks to this forum and the excellent members for helping!

 

[TXLX100]

Best thing to do is start removing stuff and drive around. Then you can start stuffing the dash in areas to isolate the issue. Noise travels though, could be anything. Check the exhaust heat shields and engine cover first

 

[willbt]

Another 30 degree morning this AM and no rattle with the engine cover off.

I can say with confidence that I would not have expected this to be the engine cover causing the rattle and could have sworn it was coming from inside the cab; perhaps a wire harness behind the stereo or possibly something else under the dash. I'm glad the fix was so simple and I didn't need to start pulling things apart.