Rattling noise from rear deck?

[holmgang]

The dreaded time has come, for the first rattle to surface itself in my car. At highway speeds, I get the occasionally rattle that sounds like it comes from the rear deck/shelf. Noise is thin and tinny, like plastic.

Comes from the rear so hard for me to "diagnose" while driving. Dont think its the folding seat latch, or the seatbelt buckle. Really do think its the deck. If I tap on the rear speaker grate that spans the width of the deck, it feels quite flimsy and loose. I kinda suspect thats what's rattling against the rear glass.

Anyone else had a similar noise?

 

[dmurphy]

Anyone else had a similar noise?

Yes. Turned the radio up and it went away.

 

[smartypnz]

Anyone else had a similar noise?

Yes.... turned out to be in the storage space below trunk. Sounded much closer - and didn't consider trunk. But there are open vents on the deck behind the back seat, so noise freely comes through.

 

[TJ73]

That speaker grill is pretty far from the glass, I doubt it's the grill hitting glass.

It could be an unsecured rear speaker wire connector under the shelf. In my car, I found the wire/connector just resting on the metal deck, not secured to anything. I wrapped the connector in weather stripping foam. While I had the trim out, I applied some felt to the inside of the back pillar trim pieces (towards the trunk). The very tip end is not well secured, seems to flex very easily, could tap against the glass.

 

[Candleflame]

tesla will say within spec.

 

[PNWLeccy]

I have struggled with this buzzy, tinny rattle front the rear for a year over rough surfaces and bumps. It sounds like it’s coming from the rear passenger side when I’m driving but it’s hard to tell.

I’ve felt taped both C pillars, felt taped the seat latches, put foam around the rear seatbelt tensioners, taped down rattling plastic behind the back of the seats under the zippered back, have put felt pads between the rear deck and rear seats, have filled the speaker grill hole with foam (2018) and have checked for any loose objects in both rear doors.

I’ve tested with seats folded down, one section at a time, with them up but the center console folded down, with blankets between the seats and side bolsters.

None of this has resolved it and I still suspect it may have something to do with the rear parcel shelf. When I tap on the top of it, it sounds like the adhesive between the metal and padding is weak and makes a crunchy sound.

I’m not really sure what else to try at this point.

 

[TJ73]

The crunchy sound is the failed glue between the fabric shelf and the foam padding sandwiched between that and the metal shelf. I have the same crunch. You should see that beauty. It's arts and crafts at a daycare bad. Pathetic but I don't think it's the source of noise. Since you already secured the plastic piece behind the rear seat under the carpet, my guess is the lazy guy who installed your shelf did not secure the speaker wire & connectors properly or it's by design to drive you nuts. The speaker harness is probably buzzing and rattling on top of that metal shelf.

 

[badiban]

Could be the speaker grill or the rear seat latch connection. Both very common rattles. I fixed the speaker grill rattle at the SC, but I still have the rear seat rattle.

 

[holmgang]

for the speakers connections and etc, you had to open many panels and etc? i looked in the trunk and nothing is exposed

 

[TJ73]

Yes. You need to remove 4 trim pieces per side to slide and lift the shelf out. The unsecured connector very well may be the rear brake light harness although I distinctly remember it hanging very close to the left rear speaker. If you want to completely remove the shelf, then you will need to unclip some wiring harnesses. I've watched this video and read this post online before I tackled it.

(5) Tesla Model 3 Rear Speaker Deck - YouTube

Model 3 SR+ rear deck/shelf speakers replacement - Tesla Owners Online

It was a bit difficult for me because I'm 6'2 - it's quite tight in the back, especially around the sloping glass to work comfortably. Once I figured out how everything is secured and familiar with the clip points, etc., it was straight forward. I didn't pull the shelf out completely, just slid it out enough to lift and investigate possible sources of noise, so I didn't unplug any wires/harnesses.

 

[PNWLeccy]

Yes. You need to remove 4 trim pieces per side to slide and lift the shelf out. The unsecured connector very well may be the rear brake light harness although I distinctly remember it hanging very close to the left rear speaker. If you want to completely remove the shelf, then you will need to unclip some wiring harnesses. I've watched this video and read this post online before I tackled it.

(5) Tesla Model 3 Rear Speaker Deck - YouTube

Model 3 SR+ rear deck/shelf speakers replacement - Tesla Owners Online

It was a bit difficult for me because I'm 6'2 - it's quite tight in the back, especially around the sloping glass to work comfortably. Once I figured out how everything is secured and familiar with the clip points, etc., it was straight forward. I didn't pull the shelf out completely, just slid it out enough to lift and investigate possible sources of noise, so I didn't unplug any wires/harnesses.

I actually had planned to put some sound deadening down on the rear parcel shelf after I did the entire back of the car but couldn’t get it 100% out. I did put one or two patches of dynamite back there under the rear speakers though. However, I didn’t see any obvious loose connections but I’m thinking about throwing some felt down all over the metal surface to maybe help with the crunchy sound.

Did you find any connections that you were able to tape down that helped at all? I don’t want to say it was difficult but like you said, it’s a huge pain to remove the shelf because it’s so tight back there.

 

[TJ73]

Yeah, wrapping the loose connector sitting on the metal shelf with foam definitely got rid of most of the annoying rattle/buzz in my car over rough roads. I think there maybe some play in the tabs that slot into the trunk end that can possibly make noise.

The crunch is from the adhesive between the fabric shelf and the foam. The foam sits on top of the metal shelf but it just sits on top of the shelf (no adhesive). I may remove the shelf one day and remove the adhesive and redo it myself. It is really sloppy - like I said before, arts & crafts at a daycare level of sloppiness. Definitely assembled by hand, 5 seconds with a caulk gun, move on to the next shelf level of care & detail.

Look at this guy's:
20190907_094812-jpg.29061 (1600×1200) (teslaownersonline.com)

 

[Adam3]

One of my rattles was the Tesla sun roof shade's plastic tabs tapping against the glass. I added some felt tape to all the tabs.

 

[Timmay]

I've had this rattle for sometime now and its getting worse. I've narrowed it down to the speaker cover part of the rear deck but that looks like a real pain to remove after watching the video and reading the thread. Is it possible to remove the speaker cover without taking the rear deck out?

 

[PNWLeccy]

I've had this rattle for sometime now and its getting worse. I've narrowed it down to the speaker cover part of the rear deck but that looks like a real pain to remove after watching the video and reading the thread. Is it possible to remove the speaker cover without taking the rear deck out?

If you have an earlier vin with the deck cutout in the trunk, you can just stick a bunch of foam in there to firm up the speaker grill (possibly).

If not, you can only remove the speaker grill by removing the rear deck as it is attached via metal tabs that have to be bent to remove. I couldn't find a better pic but this should show the tabs in the speaker grill.

 

[PNWLeccy]

Just picked up the car from the service center and apparently they spent 4 hours trying to identify the source of the sound and failed. I would love for them to just replace the entire rear deck with a recent part revision and see if that improves things.

I've been looking at pictures of rear decks on ebay to try to identify any changes made in later part revisions that could help. It looks like they've essentially just glued on some random foam bits to the underside as far as I can tell.

Mine definitely doesn't have the white insulation (Thinsulate?) here or the random grey pieces of foam so maybe I'll try laying down some once I get the energy to attack this again.

 

[Bluefin07]

I was able to reduce the rattle of the rear deck significantly with small piece of dense foam (cut from SSD drive packaging 1/4x1/4 inch block). The top of the deck was kind of free hanging and making annoying rattle on road cracks at high speed.

 

[Bluefin07]

Not sure why it did not take the picture link. I just push between glass and deck edge right above break light in the center.