What a difference a cable tie makes

peasant

Daily driving over Irish "roads" had turned my poor old van into a squeezebox.
Rattles, squeaks, oinks and boinks ...it just wasn't funny anymore.

So on Saturday I went on a mission ...stop the noise(es).

I started off with de-cluttering the glovebox and tidying the tools and accessories stashed away in all sorts of nooks and crannies. That got rid of some of the more obvious noises, but exposed yet more niggly, nagging ones.

So the dash was the next stop. Take off all the plastic bits that can be taken off, tidy up loose cables underneath, re-fasten semi-lose screws. Grease or tape bits that rubbed and very carefully and thoroughly put everything back together.

Result of all that ... besides on particularly plasticky noise disappearing ... none whatsoever :mad:

Then I got angry Dived under the dash with a vengeance and shook, rattled and rolled anything I could lay a finger or screwdriver on, listening for noises.

And I found it ...on one of the main strengthening beams in the cab there were two brake lines running along, clipped to the beam, right behind the footwell heater channel, the brake lines got touched ever so slightly by a big, rubbery cable running across them. The slightest touch of one of the brake lines produced a rubbing noise on the cable that got amplyfied by the lines, the clip, the beam and finally the whole front of the van into an almighty annoying noise.

One cable tie later (cable now firmly tied to brake line) and ...bliss ...silent night, holy night
Like driving a new van now.

The Recliner

Wow fair play

That must be oh-so satisfying

biko

Yeah noises like that can drive you crazy. Fair play.

j14

Oh God that sounds great.

I have a rattle in a 2007 Civic that comes from somewhere behind the glove box at 2,500 - 3,000 RPM.

I gave the car back to Honda on several occassions and they cannot find the problem.

I would love to have a noiseless car.

Theta

I have 2 rattles somewhere just over and behind the drives seat that do my tits in when im driving. Oh for smooth roads in Ireland!

Run_to_da_hills

I turn up my sound system, the 2KW subs will drown out anything.

peasant

j14 wrote: »

I gave the car back to Honda on several occassions and they cannot find the problem.

I'm not surprised. Once you start pulling and wriggling at things, almost everything makes a noise. But is it THE noise? And how do you stop it, can you even stop it?

I was really lucky in that I wriggled with just the right force and in just the right frequency to reproduce the exact noise that had annoyed me so much and to identify the source.

Wriggle it the wrong way, too hard or not hard enough and you'll never find it.

Joey the lips

4 things every tool box should contain.

1, Cable tiles

2. Duct tape

3. Clear Silicone

4. Metal Coat hanger(great for tie up the hot parts like an exhaust or a bumper)

cian1500ww

peasant wrote: »

Wriggle it the wrong way, too hard or not hard enough and you'll never find it.

That's what she said

Voodoomelon

Even the tiniest, faintest noise drives me mad. So much so that I don't carry anything in the car that didn't come in the car, apart from some coins and a pen.

Alanstrainor

Brilliant fix!

gofaster_s13

peasant wrote: »

One cable tie later (cable now firmly tied to brake line) and ...bliss ...silent night, holy night
Like driving a new van now.

Its not recommended to tie anything to brake lines.

Ush1

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Even the tiniest, faintest noise drives me mad. So much so that I don't carry anything in the car that didn't come in the car, apart from some coins and a pen.

I'm the same, apart from an extendable wheel wrench and tyre inflator.

peasant

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

Its not recommended to tie anything to brake lines.

I know that. But there was no stress on the brake line or the cable before nor is there now. All I've done is stopped them from rubbing each other up ...ohh ...errr...:o

gofaster_s13

peasant wrote: »

I know that. But there was no stress on the brake line or the cable before nor is there now. All I've done is stopped them from rubbing each other up ...ohh ...errr...:o

Manufacturers often clip things to brake pipes so it probably won't ever cause any problem its just considered "bad workshop practice" to tie anything to a brake pipe.

dirtydiesel

I used to have a diesel corolla van(94) it had a worn cv joint which would make a clicking noise on full lock, took me a few weeks to get round to changing it.
My son was in the van after I fixed it and I noticed he was going click click click when I turned full lock, I looked at him and he said I miss the clicking noise daddy!!!!

Heroditas

peasant wrote: »

One cable tie later (cable now firmly tied to brake line) and ...bliss ...silent night, holy night
Like driving a new van now.

Right, you can call over to me and fix my squeaky rear suspension bushes!

-Corkie-

I could do with a few have a new passat and the dash is full of sqeaks and rattles. I have to keep opening and closing the glove box to keep it quiet. Its some pain in the hole.

Poly

Cable ties, duct tape and wd40, what other tools would you need?

maybe a big hammer

germanicus

Poly wrote: »

Cable ties, duct tape and wd40, what other tools would you need?

maybe a big hammer

Vice Grips!

mickdw

malcox wrote: »

I could do with a few have a new passat and the dash is full of sqeaks and rattles. I have to keep opening and closing the glove box to keep it quiet. Its some pain in the hole.

I noticed that in a friends new passat the other day. Disgraceful. He was driving with the glovebox open too. We stuck some sponge onto the glovebox at the edges and all seems to be well .... for now