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For those with rattles...

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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 10:08 AM
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From: Ft Worth, TX
For those with rattles...

Has anyone had success with Mazda taking care of those annoying rattles that some of you have discussed? I have a rattle coming from my drivers side air vent that drives me nuts. I'm due an oil change in about 500 miles and was wondering if this was something that would fall under a warranty or something they would just laugh at.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 10:15 AM
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I have that same rattle! yet it only happens when it is colder out- and of course I really don't take her out in the cold-(we have been dumped on with the white stuff) so I have not had a chance to get it to the dealer while it is rattling! (sidenote- it has to be something there by the vent and the door touching it there- when I close a stocking hat in the door right there- the rattling completely stops!)
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 11:25 AM
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Originally posted by cardinal35
I have that same rattle! yet it only happens when it is colder out- and of course I really don't take her out in the cold-(we have been dumped on with the white stuff) so I have not had a chance to get it to the dealer while it is rattling! (sidenote- it has to be something there by the vent and the door touching it there- when I close a stocking hat in the door right there- the rattling completely stops!)
My rattle doesn't seem to be connected with the door. If I just place my finger in the vent and add pressure the rattle stops. It is really getting on my nerves though and yes there is a correlation with the cold.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 01:38 PM
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i have the same problem with the rattle on my driverside door, when ever i turn my radio up i can hear, and it pisses me off...im def gonna say sumptin on my next oil change as well
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 02:48 PM
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I can't answer for the vent rattle. I haven't had that problem. But the door rattle I can account for. It is caused by 2 styrofoam blocks in the door. If you take the door apart there are 2 molded pieces of plastic that go over the frame of the door and the car interior side of the door. The speakers and everything are cut into these 2 pieces of plastic. I am not sure why, but they have the styrofoam blocks in between the molded pieces as well. It is the styrofoam blocks that you are hearing. I had mine glued down with weather stripping glue and that worked for about a month. I am considering just taking mine completely out. I can't see a good use for them and if they are supposed to cut down on the road noise they are making the cabin noise worse.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 02:56 PM
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mine was making a noise in the drivers side door when I turned the radio up. Had something to do with the bass. It recently went away, go figure.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 04:51 PM
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Anyone have any luck with getting Mazda to take care of it?
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 06:50 PM
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I have had a couple of rattles - the main one was in the trunk and that was taken care of - I made sure to ride with the tech to "prove" it was there!

Rattles should be covered under warranty - at least for the first 12 months/12K miles.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 07:27 PM
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Does anyone get some rattles in their passenger seat? It rattles every time I go over small to moderate size road bumps. The rattles seem to come from the joint where the lever to recline the seat is. I am taking it in to the dealer on my next oil change but would like to know if anyone know what could cause the rattles. It is driving me nuts. Thanks for information you folk can give.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 10:38 PM
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I've got the vent rattle on the dirvers side. Car needs to be cold, heat needs to be routed through vent, then just about any bump causes it to rattle. No, I havn't got to the dealer yet to have it looked at.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 10:45 PM
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i have the drivers side door rattle. anoying and the dealership will be fixing it i hope.
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Old Feb 4, 2004 | 11:02 PM
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my car rattles whens its cold, when the cabin warms up the rattles go away. if anyone goes to get the rattles fixed and get it done under warranty, please inform the board.. then i'll go and be like.. fix them rattles.

the bass in music really sets it off as mentioned above.

since we're on this subject, where can you get instructions for dismantling the door panels and whatnot?.. this doesn't seem like a real difficult job to do something about styrofoam blocks, and besides, im a geek and i like taking crap apart.

after all, in due time with internal modifications, im sure some panel molded additions will be in order, might as well get a fresh start?

cheers.
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Old Feb 5, 2004 | 05:26 AM
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From: Herts - UK
Originally posted by mzrx
Does anyone get some rattles in their passenger seat? It rattles every time I go over small to moderate size road bumps. The rattles seem to come from the joint where the lever to recline the seat is. I am taking it in to the dealer on my next oil change but would like to know if anyone know what could cause the rattles. It is driving me nuts. Thanks for information you folk can give.
Yes, I get this. It goes away when I have a passenger actually sat on the seat, which as you can imagine makes it really hard to diagnose because I have to try to figure out where it's coming from while driving. Rattles should definitely be covered by the warranty.
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Old Feb 5, 2004 | 10:16 AM
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I too have the drivers door vent and passanger seat rattle. I guess it's a design defect. Whoever gets to the dealer first and gets it fixed, let us know. I guess we could print out this thread to show that it's not just "our" car.
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Old Feb 5, 2004 | 03:58 PM
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I had a rattle coming from the steering column (originally I thought it was in the instrumentation cluster). Once I demonstrated the noise with the technician riding shotgun, he took apart the steering wheel and found that wires dangling behind the airbag were the culprit. He repositioned them and the sound is gone, haven't heard it for over a week now.

For what it's worth, in my case, I could stop the rattle if I tugged on the rear lip of steering wheel's airbag/horn cover. I think if you can reproduce the noise and help pinpoint it, Mazda shouldn't have any issues covering it under warranty.

I also have the buzzing rattle in the doors, but only when its very cold (< 50F). If I ever replace the speakers, I might try fixing those blocks as 93rdcurrent described.
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Old Feb 5, 2004 | 05:32 PM
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My 8 is about a month and a half old and I'm starting to hear a few rattles too. It's because our roads are so darn bad here. We've got to have some of the worst roads in the country here and the heavy rain we had around New Years opened up thousands of potholes on the roads
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Old Feb 5, 2004 | 05:41 PM
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Originally posted by bay
my car rattles whens its cold, when the cabin warms up the rattles go away. if anyone goes to get the rattles fixed and get it done under warranty, please inform the board.. then i'll go and be like.. fix them rattles.

the bass in music really sets it off as mentioned above.
I just took mine in for the door rattle. They couldn't "find" the rattle but they put some extra insulation in and now the rattle is gone.
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Old Feb 6, 2004 | 09:20 AM
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Glad to say that the only rattle I'm getting so far is from the coins in the coin-holder.
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Old Feb 6, 2004 | 09:28 AM
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Some of our customers have had the same issue, there is rattle coming from the driver side door near the latch..

they fixed it by adding some insulation.

The rattle is caused primarily due to weather conditions, cold weather causes soem of the doors materials to flex/shrink

warm weather ususally cures it but when it gets cold , it'll come back..

its nothing major, go to your dealer and ask them to add more insulation

Z
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Old Feb 6, 2004 | 10:27 AM
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I'm having an issue with the drivers seat make loud creaking noises when entering and exiting the car. When I first heard this noise, I had the dealer check it out. They said that they could hear anything, but it has gotten worse. I'm taking it in for the revised shock sensor so we will revisit this seat issue. I was wondering if anyone else has seen this problem.

PHA RX8
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Old Feb 6, 2004 | 10:43 AM
  #21  
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I've got a few rattles as well. There are at least 4, with two being major. The first big one is near the passenger side seat joint (or in the door) and the dealership tried to fix it before (new seat belt retractor on that side) but to no avail. The other biggie is in the center of the dash behind the nav - when the two of them get going, it gets really irritating. The other two - one in the driver seat and the other's in back seat on the passenger side. I think it's some of the rougher roads that I drove up and down to get to/from work every day for 6 months (new route now).

At any rate, the dealership has my car today for oil / service and while they're at it, they get to look at squeaks and rattles. Minor things I know, but still SOOOO irritating when you're driving down the road.
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Old Feb 8, 2004 | 05:02 PM
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From: GA
Originally posted by RX8Z
Some of our customers have had the same issue, there is rattle coming from the driver side door near the latch..

they fixed it by adding some insulation.

The rattle is caused primarily due to weather conditions, cold weather causes soem of the doors materials to flex/shrink

warm weather ususally cures it but when it gets cold , it'll come back..

its nothing major, go to your dealer and ask them to add more insulation

Z
Thanks for the tip - I had the same issue and got the "could not duplicate" story! I'll be going back and asking for that extra insulation!
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Old Feb 8, 2004 | 08:36 PM
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Well, this was my first attempt to contact Mazda directly for anything...in a few words: I visited my dealer for a warranty work (something minor) and brought up a rattle coming from the steering wheel cover. The dealer (politely) said they couldn't work on the part because of the airbags...below is the long version

I took my car in for warranty work yesterday. The items in questions were:

1. An broken center-passenger A/C vent.

2. A shift **** with a worn chrome finishing.

I also brought to my dealer's attention the following item:

1. The drivers SRS-Airbag/Horn cover on the steering wheel has become a VERY annoying rattling part.

Their response was that due to its nature (being part of the safety equipment) they could not service it. They went further as to tell me that it was common among RX-8s. And that Mazda would be the correct source to inquire. I purchased a $30K car, and expect it to hold together as such. To have such a rattle @ barely 5,500 miles is not acceptable. Please forward this message to the appropriate dept. I would seriously like to see a revised steering wheel cover plate with padding, one that any dealer can install. If you believe this is not the case, and my dealer should have taken care of it without
hesitation, let me know so. Sincerely, .....-
and here is their response...

Dear ....,

Thank you for contacting Mazda North American Operations. I appreciate
the opportunity to respond to you.

In regard to your inquiry, Mazda is aware of the rattle in the steering
wheel. This rattle is due to the metal contact between the driver's air
bag and the steering wheel. The rattle typically happens when the idle
is changing, and it starts to vibrate. There is a fix for this,
however, it has not been released to the dealers yet. The fix entails
taking out the air bag and putting in insulation. You can schedule an
appointment with your dealer, and they can call into our technical
hotline for the repair procedure. I certainly apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause you.

I hope this information is helpful for you.

Again, thank you for contacting Mazda. It has been my pleasure to
assist you. Please feel free to reply to this message with any further
questions or comments.

Please take a moment to give us your opinion about our e-mail service.
Click the link below to complete a brief, online survey.

[removed URL]

Regards,

Lisa Lasky
Specialist, Customer Assistance E-Business
All in all, I am holding my breath until 7,500 miles to get the tire rotation done, along with this 'kink.' My dealer has been extremely helpful, and I still have a reason to drive 10 miles to go with them instead of going across the street....get the point?
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Old Feb 10, 2004 | 07:03 AM
  #24  
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From: New Jersey
Originally posted by RX8Z
Some of our customers have had the same issue, there is rattle coming from the driver side door near the latch..

they fixed it by adding some insulation.

The rattle is caused primarily due to weather conditions, cold weather causes soem of the doors materials to flex/shrink

warm weather ususally cures it but when it gets cold , it'll come back..

its nothing major, go to your dealer and ask them to add more insulation

Z
Can you be a little more specific. What do you mean they fix the insulation? How do they add more.


On another note how is the service at your dealership? I am thinking of taking my car their when she needs service.
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Old Feb 10, 2004 | 08:13 AM
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Hi

They dont fix the insulation, but what they can do is add some insulation. Kind of like the material you see when people upgrade their stereo systems to get rid of that BASS rattle, I dont know exactly what that material is called but its like a padding made of some soft stuff.

Our service here is great, these guys are one of the best however expect long waits or long appts. Reason is our dealership is expanding and rebuilding

Mazda will be moving about a block down, with a new dealership building. Honda is rebuilding a whole new building with a Starbucks, Internet Cafe, Indoor Garage, Granite Floor Showroom etc, Also being your in NJ, you know that Sony LOEWS on rt 1, right by rt 18 junction, wells we bought it out.

Sony is leaving that lot, and we took it over. So expect to see more of Open Road Dealerships everywhere.

Let me know if theres anyting else I can help, perhaps make an appt for you.

Zamen
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