V90 buzzing/rattle from passenger side

[neilgorin]

The door trims, adjusters for the seat belts, and parts of the dash rattled continually on my V60 from new. The parcel shelf also rattles if left hanging down but not if rolled back but clipped "up" to sit near horizontal.

Dealer tried but failed to repair the door and dash rattles.

I had my wife drive the car whilst I pushed and pulled all the bits of trim until I found where you had to push to stop it. I then soaked those areas with a silicon spray lubricant and used the excess to polish the plastics.

Stopped it totally for quite some time. A fresh spray every now and again when any noises come back stops it again.

The plastics on these just clip together, on the earlier V70 / V50 models I had there were bits of foam behind some clip on parts, but not on the V60 (cost cutting I believe) and so there is more plastic to plastic contact which the silicon spray eliminates by causing slip.

[Pc44]

Hi. I solved my issue by exchanging broken plastic wheel arch clip with an ordinary screw.
The one behind the wheel, closer to the cabin.
It's silent for 2 weeks now. Finally.

[S90]

Originally Posted by neilgorin

The door trims, adjusters for the seat belts, and parts of the dash rattled continually on my V60 from new. The parcel shelf also rattles if left hanging down but not if rolled back but clipped "up" to sit near horizontal.

Dealer tried but failed to repair the door and dash rattles.

I had my wife drive the car whilst I pushed and pulled all the bits of trim until I found where you had to push to stop it. I then soaked those areas with a silicon spray lubricant and used the excess to polish the plastics.

Stopped it totally for quite some time. A fresh spray every now and again when any noises come back stops it again.

The plastics on these just clip together, on the earlier V70 / V50 models I had there were bits of foam behind some clip on parts, but not on the V60 (cost cutting I believe) and so there is more plastic to plastic contact which the silicon spray eliminates by causing slip.

Unfortunately dealers will only pursue such issues if the customer is insistent and repeatedly so.

On expensive cars they shouldn't rattle, period, but its up to the customer to badger the hell out of the dealer to sort.

On my previous S90 I had the drivers door card, plus both rear seat belt upper covers replaced as they couldn't fix rattles, the replacements work.

Keep on at the dealer, they get paid to fix this stuff, you shouldn't have to fix or put up with it.

[neilgorin]

My V60 rattled terribly from both doors and the seat belt adjusters when new.

Every few months I soak all the plastic to plastic points with silicon lubricant spray and wipe the overspray that hasn't leached into the gaps onto the plastic as a dressing. It largely stops it. It comes back after a while so I spray it again.

The V70 I had before didn't suffer from this but when you pulled parts of the trim off there were far fewer hard plastic to hard plastic joints, whereas the V60 is full of them.

[poopbunny]

I had my windscreen replaced. A few days later, I noticed a rattle at the bottom of the windscreen, passenger side. that wasn't there before. It seems to come on during rough or coarse roads and the occasional bump. Sounds metal, like a plate that has some resonance in the rattle.

I was curious as to the glass replacement process and found this video below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X920HVjJ5_w

I was trying to find out what could possibly go wrong. When I saw the video I thought the repairer might have left a tool or a nut under the plastic panel beneath the windscreen.

I googled and found this thread with Jamieboy's solution. So I applied all Jamieboy's fix and more (isolated connectors, foam along the wire, light in the glove compartment) all rattled a little when moved. I used mostly butyl rubber (like rubber version of blutact/plastercine) and foam tape.

Originally Posted by Jamieboy

Next I looked at the hard plastic tube which I've marked red in the picture above. I don't know what this is as it seems to simply end without connecting to anything behind the centre console (is that worrying?). This tube was resting against the hard plastic of the frame of the centre console which I've highlighted yellow.

BTW, my tube was also not connected to anything and was surprised to see it just suspended like that that would potentially rattle.

Sadly, that did not resolve the rattle.

A day or so later I had some pop/rock music with some heavy bass that also caused the intermittent rattle, I knew then immediately it was from inside the cabin not outside.

When I got home I started a tone generator app on my Ipod, basically you can dial whatever frequency and it would play that constant tone. On my B&W sound system, I managed to recreate that rattle constantly at 52Hz. I then moved over to the passenger side and lo and behold, I experienced what morgano found below. It seemed to be coming from the driver's side.

Originally Posted by morgano

I have the same rattle. I swear it's coming from the passenger side and my wife swears it's coming from my side. Which makes me believe it's possibly central.

Moving my ears around, I was a little surprised to find it was coming from the top, Intellisafe plastic case behind the rear view mirror, not the bottom where I initially thought. Pressing it at various points on the case, the buzzing/rattle would go away or come back.

I was relieved that I now found the source but also slightly annoyed that the windscreen repairer probably broke some tab holding it in place.

I watched the youtube video a few more times on the Intellisafe case removal part to get confidence in its removal. It was quite easy to remove. The smaller base near the mirror is carefully pried open first, then the main case from the front like in the video.

To my surprise nothing was broken and everything seemed firm and secure. I added a bit of butyl to all the securing tabs, foam to the inside of the case (but not the vents) and some foam, on a few points, along the edge of the case where it could possible come in contact with the glass (I think this was the main cause of the rattle/buzz).

I suspect the cause is very fine variations in the finished part or assembly, so some may find rattles and others maybe lucky to not have it (like when before my glass was replaced). What makes it difficult to diagnose, the reflections of sound along so many surfaces and curves, could shift the focal point away from the actual source.

Hope this helps some of you.

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by poopbunny

BTW, my tube was also not connected to anything and was surprised to see it just suspended like that

That looks like the aircon feed for cooling the glovebox. It's fitted to cars even if they don't have the glovebox cooling option. Seems a bit mean of Volvo not to fit the last piece of plastic that would enable cooling on all cars.

[poopbunny]

Originally Posted by Lexman8

That looks like the aircon feed for cooling the glovebox. It's fitted to cars even if they don't have the glovebox cooling option. Seems a bit mean of Volvo not to fit the last piece of plastic that would enable cooling on all cars.

Mine does have the glovebox cooling option. I can see the slider with the snowflake symbol. I didn't realise it was there until I dissembled the glovebox xD.

Maybe it's to cool the sensus?

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by poopbunny

Maybe it's to cool the sensus?

Yes, there’s also a feed to cool the Sensus unit.