Is your Civic making rattling noises? Creaks? Pops? Pings? Knocks? Trying to figure out exactly what it is?

I am making this thread to help people who have anywhere from a single to various types of rattling or unwelcome/embarrassing noises in their cars.

If you have, or have had a noise issue, please post it here to help the community. Please describe the apparent location of the noises, a description of what the noises sound like (or a video or both), what you've checked and/or replaced to attempt to alleviate the problem, whether or not the problem still persists, and what the noise ended up being caused by if you have successfully fixed it.

Yes, I would like everyone, including myself, to start a massive list of things that rattle in our Hondas.

Why? Because I either have, or have had, almost all of them, varying from mufflers, heat shields, to transmission internals and shift ***** and I know how much it sucks.

This thread is a work in progress so please bare with me as I update it continually. As mentioned above, feel free to post your noise issues and I will do my best to help identify it/them for you.

I will say this: Noises and rattles are not always easy to diagnose, which is why I want to just keep this a list for people to reference, so they can check for themselves where they think their noises/rattles may be coming from. It's intended solely to help people, not to be considered the "end-all-be-all" of noise diagnostics.

Here's a list of Honda rattles that I've had, or currently have, a description of their sound, and what I did to fix the problem:

Rattling and other noises can be caused by time. The more you drive a car, the more off-spec the torquing becomes on bolts, nuts, studs, and other fasteners. As a car ages, some things will loosen and brake, of course. Keeping all the bolts in your car torqued to factory spec will help keep your car in a newer running condition for longer, and will help prevent random things from making noises.

If you are using solid motor mounts, expect almost everything in your car to rattle. Solid motor mounts are designed to put more power on the ground, and aren't really recommended for a daily driven car. Unless you just don't care. Solid motor mounts transfer almost all engine vibrations to the chassis and cabin of the car, so this causes a lot of de-torquing to occur over time with a lot of interior parts, causing rattles and other noises.

Constant bass from subwoofers will also do this. Common items that rattle with high amounts of bass include:

Sound deadening sheets (Dynamat) will greatly reduce rattles and noises, but some will persist, though not as loudly. The trunk lid and rear deck are good examples. You can also use some 3M adhesive foam gasket to get rid of license plate rattles rather than paying $18 for a tiny piece of license plate Dynamat. It works just as good, and for a fraction of the cost (not to mention you'll have loads of it left over for other uses).

(I am currently at work so this thread and list is not complete yet, but as mentioned above, it will be a continuous project of mine to update it. Please add content to this thread to help.)

-Adam

 

I had a squeak coming from the driver seat going over bumps. Turned out it was the seat belt buckle, it would squeak when moving side to side. The fix was a shot of WD40 in the underside of the buckle. Had to remove the buckle from the seat rail to get it in there.

 

i have a squeak whenever i hit small bumps coming from my driver side wheel well

guessing my balljoint cause its a duralast pos

also got hit in my passenger side rear quarterpanel so the side molding is a bit loose right there

rattles everytime my subs knock :\

 

I have a rattle during first gear acceleration, sounds like rattling on the firewall.

 

I got the infamous clutch chatter return. Probably from not running with an inspection cover. Of course it goes away when you depress the clutch pedal.

 

Rear deck rattles when my sub hits a big bass note.

 

The exhaust pipe rattlles because it's really tight fitting against the frame. I had wrapped some header wrap around it but that came loose when I did the Dragon a few months ago. I think I need slightly longer hangers.

 

I've solved a lot of body panel rattles with Dynamat and just ensuring they're clipped properly.

-B&M shifter rattles. Culprit is the O-rings around the pin on the linkage. Pop new ones on, good to go.
-Door panels used to rattle due to loud speakers. Dynamat solved.
-Windows rattle due to same reason. Adjust them and tighten them down well.
-Trunk lid rattle occasionally on bumps. Check weatherstripping back there, a bit of deadening wouldn't hurt either.
-Exhaust rattles BADLY when coming to stops at low speeds while turning, however only when it's cold out. Believe it's the heatshield to blame, still need to check.
-Rear deck rattles when music is loud. Make sure its fitment is picture perfect, bit of Dynamat helps as well.

My front shocks are squeaking like a bitch now that it's cold out, but they're way past needing to be replaced anyhow. More later.

 

solid motor mounts....everything rattles

 

I Have a 1992 1.5 Automatic Honda Civic . Its making a Knocking noise im guessing its the Connecting Rod Bearing So i am going to replace them . The Question is im not sure what size to use .. Do i need a larger Bearing or ..? Can some one please help mee out . Thnx

 

So true.

Bump

 

this should get added to faqs

 

My 2000 DX hatchback had a rear end accident that the used car dealer didn't tell me about. Imagine that. So they had to paint it. So EVERYTHING rattles. The whole interior, the doors, the exterior trim, the rear deck, the heat shields. One of these days I am going to attack it with some sort of foam something or other and some new clips to make them all stop, but until then I just turn the radio up as high as it will go.

 

McMaster Carr sells butyl rubber sheets, essentially the same thing as Dynamat, but it's cheaper. Some of the cheap sound deadening material is little more than ice and water damn barrier...asphalt or tar. Besides possibly being smelly, these don't work as well and won't stay adhered as well. Dynamat is still said to be the best, but we drive Hondas, cheaper is sometimes worth the trade off.

 

There's a TSB for 6G Civic coupes (and possibly sedans) about the rear deck vibrating or rattling. The fix is a small strip of grey foam I believe.

 

Those foam strips work wonders with a lot of interior rattling.

 

i had a rattle coming from the passanger side of my 2000 si on deceleration while applying the brakes.. and it turned out too be the rack and pinion bushing that hold the rack to the subframe theres a bushing there i never thought it would do that or sound like that...sounded like badly warped rotors.... keep an eye out everyone for urs...

 

Awesome thread, funny thing is I am actually planning on taking my interior apart today to retorque everything! Makes a lot of noises over bumps (shot bushings on rear lcas), the whole rear interior rattles and the hatch glass too, the front door panels vibrate when idling and even the rear seats squeak when you sit on them I will def check back and update.

 

 

yep

here is the link to the TSB with how to fix the problem. i need to do this on my 96

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/tsb/civic/x98-079e.pdf

there is a thread with most of the TSBs here https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/common-problems-recalls-service-bulletins-92-00-civics-del-sols-2285479/

 

I have what sounds like a chatter coming from the front driver side. It happens generally above 40mph and happens even when coasting in neutral. It doesn't matter if I am accelerating or not. I can't tell if it's coming in from outside or if it's coming from inside the dash. I know my front rotors are warped due to the vibrating I get when braking hard, and I'm going to replace them this weekend. I hope this alleviates the chattering noise as well; anyone else have any other ideas?

 

dont they all rattle? great thread though

 

Bump for more views and responses.

 

buuuump

 

I have a rattling noise coming from my instrument cluster area when I accelerate. It is not terribly loud, just annoying. It seems to be happening on a more regular basis and I want to get rid of it.