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I am looking for the cause of a rattle in a 1996 Pontiac Sunfire convertible?
This rattle can be heard as you drive over the least imperfection in the road. It sounds like the rear drivers side shock absorber is loose in its mounting but in fact the shock absorber seems quite secure.
I said "shock absorber" but this is really a pressurized strut. Because it is pressurized, I am reluctant to try to replace it. and I don't think anything under pressure would rattle so loosely.
The sound is from the top of the strut (Maybe inside it?) or from the top inside of the trunk or from the back corner of the interior where the roof lowering mechanism is.
I hope some one has experience with this because I love my car, hate the rattle and hate to pay someone $95 an hour to tear the car apart to look for it. Thanks J.T.
4 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
hello if the noise you hear is a lot of clicking and clunking over smaller bumps it is mort than likey to be rust at the top of the strut shaft and the mount ! GM has a update mount for this and you should install new mounts and struts, the aftermarket parts work well!
Source(s): work at GM - 1 decade ago
Hey,
Well actually it is nothing to worry about. Yes it is annoying, but it is really nothing at all. That noise that you are hearing is from the interior. It is you back sit. It is just beacuse of the fact that your vehicle is getting older, and that the clamping mechanism that holde your back sit, is starting to wear out and have some play in it. You should actually be happy that it is only now going on. My wife has a 99, and I have an 03, hers started about two years ago and mine just started to do so recently. There is really no good fix for it. As much as my cars have been great to me over the years, it comes down to the fact that GM is and has been trying to save money, and we the consumer get the short end of the stick. Let me know if you need anything else. I work on a daily bases with my two cars, and there is nothing that you cna throw at me when it comes to Sunfires that I canot walk you through to fix yourself. Just shoot me an e-mail if you need help with anything and I will walk you through whatever your cars needs work on. Sunfires are trully a due it yourslef type of cars. No use to spend money on garages if you can get help from someone who loves to work on them.
- J.R.Lv 61 decade ago
It could just be that your trunklid needs to be adjusted. That was the source of the rattle in my car. All I had to do was adjust the stops down just a bit, and it took care of the problem. Try pushing down on the corners of your trunklid while it is closed. You shouldn't get any movement. If you do, it needs to be adjusted.
- 1 decade ago
Typical cause would be a worn shock or strut bushing,,,they are easy and cheap to replace.
