When is a dashboard rattle not a dashboard rattle?

UK forum for general and technical discussion about the Z3 roadster
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wonderloaf
Joined: Mon 02 Aug, 2010 20:55
Posts: 518

  Z3 roadster 2.2i
Location: Basingstoke

When is a dashboard rattle not a dashboard rattle?

Post by wonderloaf »

Answer: when it's a washer bottle rattle.

I've had an assumed dash rattle that's gradually been getting worse over the last few months and I was convinced it was somewhere behind the passenger airbag. In attempt to locate it I've gradually been disassembling the dash and this was the state of my car earlier today:

Image

Nothing I did would silence the dreaded rattle and I was seriously considering selling the car, probably as a breaker as nobody would want to drive it with the rattle it was so loud.
Then I did what I should have done in the first place: I lifted the bonnet and started pushing parts around and that's when I found that by moving the windscreen washer bottle around I could reproduce my so called 'rattle'.
In the end the problem is that one of the bottle support spot welds has torn away the metal of the bulkhead slightly, so that when going over even slightly bumpy ground it would flex back and forth making a clicking (or rattling) sound. Big bumps made a really loud knocking noise which I now assume was the bracket hitting the firewall.

The weld that is affected is shown in the picture below, just above the right hand nut. This is a view looking down between the washer bottle and the insulation on the bulkhead:
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Pulling back the insulation revealed the tear in the metal:
Image

Note I used screwdriver to bend the metal away to prove out my theory (it worked), all is now gloriously silent in the cockpit :)

Anyway I just wanted to let the wider zed community know about this as I've not seen this problem highlighted in the many forum postings I've read, and I've read quite a few.
Also there's a lesson to be learned: as the old saying goes 'don't assume anything as it could make an ass of you and me' ... certainly did in my case! :dunce:
2001 Titan Silver 2.2 Sport
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