Car dead, rattling on Passenger-side

misstearheus

Car dead, wouldn't even un-lock itself, had to put the key in the door. There's a consistent non-stop rattling sound now coming from Passenger-side from somewhere around the Glove-compartment area.... Any ideas what it is ?!

Atlantic Dawn

Dead battery would be my first guess.

misstearheus

Fcuk it. Left the lights on in it before but there was no rattling in it? And it still opened with the fob. Grrrrrrrrrr now I have to go find someone to start the effing thing.

Atlantic Dawn

When is the rattling happening, when you try to start it?

The cold weather combined with short drives will result in not enough power getting charged in to the battery to replace what is used. Your battery may be due replacement or else if you have just being doing short drives that could be the problem.

Chimichangas

misstearheus wrote: »

Car dead, wouldn't even un-lock itself, had to put the key in the door. There's a consistent non-stop rattling sound now coming from Passenger-side from somewhere around the Glove-compartment area.... Any ideas what it is ?!

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Dead battery would be my first guess.

Dead battery seems a good guess. Would it need replacing?
Would the rattling be the locking system going on? Used to have a similar thing on an old car. Turned out the battery was dead/dying a thousand deaths due to an unknown drain...

biko

A bad battery can cause all kinds of weird issues, focus on the batteryand worry about the rattling after.

misstearheus

How would I know if the Battery needed to be replaced? Mostly short journeys an odd long journey. I can't think if it was rattling before I put in the key or if rattling started after I turned the key, but it's rattling non-stop like a mofo now anyway. I have to go on a hunt now to see if there's any nice people around here with cables to start the stoopid thing for me. :rolleyes:

biko

One reason to change an old battery is that it won't start when it's cold out. Batteries lasts 4-8 years depending on all kinds of things so if yours is older than 4 you should probably just change it, or have Halfords test and change it for you.

If you have breakdown assistance in your insurance you can ring them for help.

Atlantic Dawn

Chimichangas wrote: »

Dead battery seems a good guess. Would it need replacing?
Would the rattling be the locking system going on? Used to have a similar thing on an old car. Turned out the battery was dead/dying a thousand deaths due to an unknown drain...

If it's over 3 years old or you don't know when it was last replaced I would just replace it. Clicking noise is likely last bit of battery power trying to open the central locking and failing.