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A Quick Door Rattle Fix (?)


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Well, a bodge rather than a fix, but it seems to work...

I have been having some rattle problems from the otherwise-brilliant and beautiful 56 reg 250SEL I bought in February. Lexus Leicester have dealt with some (with mixed results) and are going to have another go at the rear screen rattle (if that is what it is) which I mentioned in another recent post; but I have also been irritated by a rattle from the driver's door which was happening only on bad and uneven surfaces. I fiddled with seat belt fixings and LL changed some of these, but it seemed to make little difference. I read somewhere (perhaps on a US forum?) of adjustments being made to the door catch and striker pin to minimise movement there, so I tried an experiment which involved wrapping the striker pins tightly with two or three layers of black insulating tape, the thinking being that this would reduce any room for movement and would indicate whether door catch looseness was indeed the problem. I did the rear doors too while I was at it. It looks quite neat - well it does when first applied, anyway.

Two days and some really bad roads later, my impression is that it really has worked. The doors don't rattle and the whole car seems tighter. A bit more research and I found that very same bodge being recommended for the Lotus elise, which apparently suffers from having striker pins that are a ml too small for the catches.

For those with warranties (myself included) a proper solution must be adjustment of the door catch. For Lotus Elise drivers it is buying a new set of aftermarket striker pins. But the tape solution takes only minutes and pence and apparently lasts much longer than one might think. I wish there was a similar bodge for the rear screen rattle.

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Thanks for the tip- good to see someone else favouring Blue Peter style repairs- I'm frequently found in our cars driving up and down rough roads with scissors and sellotape, placing strategic bits of cardboard between bits of trim...

You might find that Duck-tape is harder wearing, and it's available in silver.

Might your rear rattle be coming from the electric rear blind?

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Duck tape, ah yes, I had been thinking about something like that and will try it when the old tape starts to fray. But for the time being the insulation tape is doing the business. It really does seem to work....

No, it cannot be the blind because Lexus Leicester changed that for a new one and when that solved nothing they tested the car with the entire parcel shelf removed and it was still there. So they are resetting the rear screen next week.

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That rattle annoyed me for ages as well. Its sounds like its coming from the seatbealt height adjuster, but is in fact the door catches.

It took Lexus Brighton a few attempts to fix. First they replaced the seat belt height adjuster, with no effect. The second time they had the car for a few days, and I gave them permission to drive it about a fair bit so they could locate the problem. They eventually found it by driving over rough surface with the door open.

They replaced the door catches and all is good now, and has been for over 40k

Darren

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That rattle annoyed me for ages as well. Its sounds like its coming from the seatbealt height adjuster, but is in fact the door catches.

It took Lexus Brighton a few attempts to fix. First they replaced the seat belt height adjuster, with no effect. The second time they had the car for a few days, and I gave them permission to drive it about a fair bit so they could locate the problem. They eventually found it by driving over rough surface with the door open.

They replaced the door catches and all is good now, and has been for over 40k

Darren

This sounds like the problem I have. So are there door catches in the vicinity of the seatbelt hosing then ?

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well, they are not in quite the same place, but your ears may be deceiving you. If in doubt, wrap three layers of tape tightly around each of the striking posts and see if your car is quieter over rough surfaces. It has worked for me. I only wish the rear end (rear screen?) rattle could be fixed with a piece of sticky tape...

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