De-rattling a V50

[chrisdc]

If there's one thing that makes a car seem older than it actually is, it's rattles and squeaks. I'm on a mission to de-rattle my car. I would very much appreciate input from people that have successfully traced rattles and squeaks in a V50.

I'll kick off with at least one know offender on mine. My car was still up on a hoist when I collected from dealer the other day. I took the opportunity to have a good look underneath. I noticed the large plastic cover under the engine was both cracked and loose. Strike one!

There's also a rattle when I close my door. I haven't investigated that one yet but the cause can be quite surprising sometimes. On a previous car the door rattle turned out to be the trim along the top of the door – on the outside, the one with the rubber wiper. There was one broken clip midway between the two extremes. The trim even felt tight. But if you squeezed it when closing the door, rattle gone!

[kane]

I'm driven mad by the rattle that comes from the button on the hand brake. Stupid little button!

[x DTR x]

My creaking seat is the only thing driving me mad, got some spray grease and i am determined to try and sort it this week while i'm off work!

[MacV50]

It's one thing I find very disappointing about the car. For a so called premium brand the number of rattles I've had in the 16 months of ownership have been unacceptable.

I'll be getting the next batch sorted out at the 25k service ...

[850Chris]

Loose exhaust heat shield above the rear box was the cause of a rattle on mine (now fixed).

Other one is the lid on storage compartment built into the extendable luggage cover unit in the boot. Seemed to keep popping open and then would rattle. Fixed 'Blue Peter Style' with some sticky back velcro!

[s40manbaz]

my seats or the plastic trim round them squeak like mad n drive me even more mad lol

[Welton]

Originally Posted by 850Chris

Loose exhaust heat shield above the rear box was the cause of a rattle on mine (now fixed).

I've just found that on mine! I have a strange metallic 'ting' or 'clang' noise going over bumps and found that one of the heat shield retaining studs had vanished - right above the exhaust where it bends over the rear axle. How did you fix yours?

My only rattle is right behind the Volvo badge centre of the steering wheel.

[850Chris]

Originally Posted by Welton

How did you fix yours?

The (plastic) nut for mine was still fixed to the stud which protrudes from the chassis / underbody. Issue was that the heat shield had corroded where it meets the stud to the point that corroded hole was bigger than plastic nut diameter (so simply fell past). Fixed with that old handy thing, a large washer!!

[SeekingV70]

Rattles are like Japanese water torture to me so I have to fix them. So far I have done the following:

1) Traced a hideous, loud, high-pitched squeak on my Dad's older V50 to the trim at the top of the inside of the tailgate. There are pointy plastic lugs which scrape against the metal holes into which they are inserted. Remedy was a bit of card that I pushed the lugs through to act as a buffer.
2) My newer V50 developed the same squeak. Sorted it in exactly the same way.
3) Rattle from load cover. After much experimentation, it turned out to be a 'sticky squeak' of lugs of the small bit of the cover sitting in their recesses (this is the bit which is where the lidded compartment is on older V50s). Fixed by not leaving them in their recesses! But I will put some felt in the recesses at when I have some.
4) Rattle from rear off side door speaker. Sorted with bit of sticky-backed window draught excluder (a V50-owner's best friend :-)), inserted between trim and metal of inside of door.
5) 1900 rev rattle (2.0D) from glove box. Turned out to be trim on side of glove box adjacent to the nearside door. Fixed with rubber draught excluder.
6) Jittery rattle from driver's visor mirror cover. Not fixed yet, though squeazing it when it happens helps.

Other than that, I currently have a metallic 'knock' from the steering column (I think) when I go round a roundabout at speed. First right then left. Any ideas?

[dannydazzler]

My wife thinks I'm crazy because I'm always trying to find the annoying rattle. I've got a couple of bad ones in my S40 they drive me insane haha
•Rear door tweeter rattle needs sorting it buzzers in my ear drive me insane lol.
• Dash board rattle aswell can't seem to find it where about it is, I had a mk4 golf and they were notorious for rattles, this volvo is not as bad, but still could be a lot better.