W210 Rattle, driving me mental

[alexanderfoti]

Update - unfortunately its not fixed, as its intermittent, I assumed wrongly that it had gone becuase of the piece I moved

 

[Ringway]

I had the same problem on my previous 210.
I (eventually!) traced the noise to the upright part of the rear seat where it closes. Initially I cut and inserted a dense foam packer on each side.
That worked for 3-4 months and I finally solved the problem by inserting some malleable PVC strip that is around 1.5mm thick.
IIRC, I built up a couple of pieces of this and then possibly filed to reduce the size a little.
If you want some of the PVC strip (it's a product we sell) I'll gladly post some to you.

 

[alexanderfoti]

I (eventually!) traced the noise to the upright part of the rear seat where it closes. Initially I cut and inserted a dense foam packer on each side.

Can you be more specific as to the area. Is this on the backrest part of the rear seats?

 

[alexanderfoti]

Just realised, are you talking about the S210 rather than the W210?

 

[Ringway]

Just realised, are you talking about the S210 rather than the W210?

Yes. S210.

Top LH/RH extreme of the back or the seats. Sometime the noise was like a bird chirping.

 

[alexanderfoti]

aha, on the w210 its fixed, no folding rear seats.

I might take the back seats out completely and see if the noise is still there.

 

[Ringway]

I might take the back seats out completely.

If you haven't owned the car from new you might be in for a surprise! Do let us know if you find anything interesting. :lol:

 

[alexanderfoti]

If you haven't owned the car from new you might be in for a surprise! Do let us know if you find anything interesting. :lol:

Indeed, thinking there might be something odd, or maybe sombody has dropped a bulb down into the boot lining or something.

 

[brandwooddixon]

If you haven't owned the car from new you might be in for a surprise! Do let us know if you find anything interesting. :lol:

Indeed. The first time I removed mine on my old W210 I found the soundproofing material covered in birdseed!

If you're going to remove the seat back, leave the base out and try taping the seatbelt clip down somewhere to eliminate that as a potential source.

 

[alexanderfoti]

Just had the whole boot lining to check for anything trapped under there.

Nothing.

Had the rear parcel shelf out again to fix my sunblind again and checked underneath all the sound deadening, I also packed all the modules on either side with double sided foam.

Still there. It must be in the headlining, I can't imagine where else it would be coming from.

Sent from a mobile device

 

[s5tuart]

Spare wheel or tools? They drove me mad on my estate!

 

[alexanderfoti]

Spare wheel or tools? They drove me mad on my estate!

All taken out, including the spare wheel carier

 

[AdamG]

Did you try opening the sunroof when it started rattling?

I have just removed the headliner on my car and put some felt on the hooks that fasten the headliner to the sunroof cassette (apparently it is a common source). I'll see if that solves it. Unfortunately for me it is quite random when it occurs so on many occasions I have thought it's been solved but has not!

By the way dropping the headliner is not for the faint hearted

I've taken some photos that I'll put up later.

 

[alexanderfoti]

I did today actually and it made no difference.

That would be interesting to see what's underneath the headliner that could be causing the problem.

Sent from a mobile device

 

[AdamG]

Sorry for the large photo but hopefully it shows the setup.

I think the w220 is essentially the same setup as the w210.

The hooks on the headliner hook to the area with white tape on the sunroof cassette.

All that rubber weather-strip is from my unsuccessful attempts to solve the rattle

<img

 

[s5tuart]

That is one heck of a photo!!!!!

 

[s5tuart]

That is one heck of a photo!!!!! In a good way.

 

[alexanderfoti]

Sorry for the large photo but hopefully it shows the setup.

I think the w220 is essentially the same setup as the w210.

The hooks on the headliner hook to the area with white tape on the sunroof cassette.

All that rubber weather-strip is from my unsuccessful attempts to solve the rattle

<img

I see. Hard to see where mine could be rattling. Not much in that area.

Sent from a mobile device

 

[AdamG]

The known area is where those bonded metal headliner hooks fasten to the sunroof cassette (white tape area).

There is a thread on MBWorld about it.

http://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w210/330564-diy-alcantera-headliner-roof-rattle-fix-3.html

I've added some extra felt tape to that area. There were some witness marks on the cassette where it looked like the metal hook was touching.