Do you have B.B.s rolling around in your car???

R22tech · R22tech's Garage

I ask because AdamNitti and I both had a noise coming from the inside rear seat area that sounded like B.B.s rolling around...it drove us nuts

!!! It would make the sound evrytime you turned left or right in a "spirited" fashion. Adam soent a day searching for the culprit with no luck, he doesn't have his car anymore...so I guess he got rid of the noise

. Anyway, I had some extra time today and searched for the cause. Violla!!! Interior light located under targa bar had a loose silver b.b. floating around inside the lens. I pulled the glovebox light to see where the b.b. fits and sure enough, it belongs in the assembly...no wonder my light wouldn't stay put in any of the (3) rocker positions! If you have anything that resembles this noise , save yourself alot of time and check your interior lights...they all seem to have a b.b. in them!

p.s. I have kids and I thought for sure a baby's rattle was installed permenantly into one of the crevices back there by one of the kids! I guess my kids ain't THAT bad

Teutonics · Teutonics's Garage

Yeah, Adam got rid of it.... I inherited it!

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. I've also spent some time searching......

Jgordon · 09-17-2002, 02:24 PM

At least your kids didn't hide a mussel (yes, the salt-water shellfish) in the gap of a fold-down rear seat in a station wagon and forget about it. Not that I did. Or my sister. No sir.

Jim Garfield · 09-17-2002, 05:24 PM

Better in the light than in the cylinder

NZ9Iwon · 09-17-2002, 06:53 PM

He he. I nearly wet myself last week braking into a corner, and heard a noise that sounded like 200 ball bearings being shaken in a glass jar as soon as I touched the brakes. Slowed down, touched the brakes again - no noise, all seemed OK. As soon as I applied real pressure though....a horrible grinding, grating noise from the front end.

Then I remembered tidying up the garage and putting an old fishbowl in the trunk (in a rubbish bag) that had - guess what - about 200 glass marbles in it!

You get to my age and the mind starts to play really nasty tricks.

Teutonics · Teutonics's Garage

Update on AdamNitti's car (now mine): After much (make that MUCH) searching (took out all the rear panels, carpet, searched/cleaned engine compartment top and bottom, fender wells, jack ports, and any other cracks/crevices/nooks/crannies), I think I have found the culprit noise.... I think there is something rolling around inside the muffler. Haven't pulled the muffler yet, but I can tap with a rubber mallet and hear it "clank" inside.

It's been driving me crazy!

weber92037 · weber92037's Garage

I found a golf pencil in the air (heater) duct under the front of the passenger seat. It had been rolling around for a month or so and driving me buggy. Don't have any idea how it got there, but I was sure happy to find it.

Sunroof · 10-18-2002, 07:54 PM

Doug...
Hey, I was going to say muffler too! I have a loose piece and the rattling sounds like the chains are coming apart. It happens a few days a week but goes away after a few minutes as if the small piece or two gets lodged in the baffles. In fact I took the car several months ago to Performance for a CV change and they would not touch the car after hearing the noise. Bob called me and insisted he look at the chains fearing a chain tensioner was going out. I told him..its the muffler, but he had to see for himself. Chain was tight and as new as day one!

I bought an after market "banana shaped" unit from a place I will not mention (not Pelican) and just live with the occasional nuisance. Interestingly the sound carries quite well from the muffler through the rear seats into the cabin.

Bob
73.5T

Teutonics · Teutonics's Garage

After removing the exhaust and finding out that the problem WASN'T THERE, I did some more searching with the improved accessability. After tapping all around with a rubber mallet, what I found was that at some point in the past, the hood latch pin had come loose and fallen down into the structural channel that holds the hood latch. There are two small holes below the hood latch down into the channel, and otherwise no other access. With flashlight, dental mirror, and coat hanger, I was able to fish it out of the internals..... problem solved.

The moral? Check your hood latch pin to make sure it's not loose, or apply some loc-tite as needed.

Bones · Bones's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by R22tech
I ask because AdamNitti and I both had a noise coming from the inside rear seat area that sounded like B.B.s rolling around...it drove us nuts !!! It would make the sound evrytime you turned left or right in a "spirited" fashion. Adam soent a day searching for the culprit with no luck, he doesn't have his car anymore...so I guess he got rid of the noise . Anyway, I had some extra time today and searched for the cause. Violla!!! Interior light located under targa bar had a loose silver b.b. floating around inside the lens. I pulled the glovebox light to see where the b.b. fits and sure enough, it belongs in the assembly...no wonder my light wouldn't stay put in any of the (3) rocker positions! If you have anything that resembles this noise , save yourself alot of time and check your interior lights...they all seem to have a b.b. in them!

p.s. I have kids and I thought for sure a baby's rattle was installed permenantly into one of the crevices back there by one of the kids! I guess my kids ain't THAT bad

what's the procedure for removing the interior light without damaging anything

Lothar · Lothar's Garage

It's probably another bad joke played on unsuspecting Americans by those German mechanics who built the car. While stripping the interior out of my car, I found several Germans coins in a small metal clad place. That wouldn't have made any noise!

Thanks to substantial modification to my exhaust system (or lack there of) I would not have heard the rattle from someone's .02 DMs worth.