How-To: Stop dash rattles and squeaks permanently.

[dunsantos]

I had some trouble with dash rattle when the car was on a bumpy road or uneven ground in general. It was pretty damn annoying so I decided to make some changes. Here are the steps I took to eliminate the noise. It worked great and now I have a completely quiet dash.

STEPS:

1. I used some rope to loop into the vent on the passenger side and pull straight upwards. I'm always afraid to scratch something when removing anything so I thought this would be a good method and it worked great.





2. After opening the vent shroud (or whatever you wanna call it), I used my finger to insert into the opening and slide down towards the driver's side, poping the rest of the clips out.

3. I removed the vent shroud completely and exposed about 10 metal retainer clips and 1 screw on the passenger side that I deemed as the "noise makers"

4. I used a pair of needle nose plyers to pull all of the metal clips out. You have to wiggle them a little but they 'll come out.



5. I then removed a screw on the passenger side which was definitely a cuplrit in the squeaks I was hearing. I believe this screw holds the top portion of the dash to the bottom portion, so perform at your own risk. I've been driving for about 3 months now and still haven't heard a peep from the dash.



6. I used Scotch felt pads which are normally used to stick on the bottom of furniture. I covered each of the tabs on the vent schroud. They covered the tabs perfect and were just the right thickness to make sure they held tight in the dash.



7. I snapped the vent shroud back in and that's it. All done, noise free dash.

[joey]

Thanks for posting the helpful explanation.

[Moose]

Awesome write-up...Thanks!!

[bruno]

What a clever fix! You ought to fax a copy to each Chrysler Service Department. Thanks for posting.

bruno

[CUEBALL]

Maybe you should work for Chrysler!

Thanks for the post with pics! I am sure this will help more than a few that are plagued by the dash rattle.

[dunsantos]

Thanks guys, the procedure took under 30 mins. No more frustrating rattles and noises. Those clips and that 1 screw in particular were what the issue was. I know that 2005 300's have a TSB out on this also but didn't even want to deal with my shoddy service department. Cheers.

TSB:http://www.wkjeeps.com/misc/LX/TSB/TSB_2301805.pdf

[Eagle3t]

Great write up and thanks for taking the time to explain to all of us and sharing your pics and experience with us.....

[Dennis808]

Thanks for the writeup!! I started noticing this lately. I may be doing this mod very soon.

[vvv90]

Awesome write-up. Thanks for your contribution!

[ray_m]

After having the vent cover rattling on and off for the last few months, I finally tried dunsantos' fix. It works great! I did a couple things differently:

1) Used a trick I learned removing Mercedes instrument clusters. Get a coat hanger wire and put a small right-angle bend in the end of it. Then just hook the wire inside the vent cover and pull.

2) Kept the retaining screw in, but with a lock washer, and snugged it down.

3) Bought the self-stick felt sheets that come in a 4x6 size, and cut them into strips to fit over the plastic tabs on the cover.

I had bad thoughts of cracking the windshield while prying those 8 clips out of the dashboard top with my pliers - gotta be careful. You can use the reflection in the windshield to sort of see what you're doing since the clips on the rear edge are hard to see directly.