Found the Rattle!!

I've had a rattle in the very rear of my wagon for some time now. It's not bad, just annoying, and comes and goes. I'd checked both plastic side panels, the 3rd-row seat bolts, moved stuff around in the side cargo box, and checked everything inside the tailgate when I fixed the linkage in there. Rattle remained. Had my brother-in-law ride in the 3rd row last time I was in Dallas, and he thought it was still inside the tail gate itself. Grrr.

So last night I was cleaning the inside of all the windows, and I went to clean the inside of the hatch glass, and the 3rd brake light cover seemed loose when I bumped it. I pulled out a torx driver, and the two torx screws on the bottom of the light were tight. Hmmm... Looked on the top of the housing, near the glass, and sure enough there were two more torx screws up there. Could not reach them with my torx screwdriver, due to the angle of the glass. Had to use a torx bit and some vice grips, and sure enough, those screws were really loose.

Closed the window, thunk, went for a drive, not a sound from the far back!

Ahahaha! You have to appreciate the little things in life.

-Mike

Now it is time to put LED's in that little light. See mtrhead79 for the details.......

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

Now it is time to put LED's in that little light. See mtrhead79 for the details.......

I just got it to stop rattling. Scared to touch it now.

My wife, always a ray of sunshine, asked me how long it would be now before a bulb burns out.

I give it a week!

buickestate wrote:

I give it a week!

The LED's last a long time......

Nice when a simple fix corrects one of those little annoying problems.

Be careful with that taillight housing assembly. They seem to break easily, at least the ones I've worked on.

sherlock9c1 wrote:

Be careful with that taillight housing assembly. They seem to break easily, at least the ones I've worked on.

The kids grab it to pull the window closed when they get in the 3rd seat. It sits on a metal housing....should I tell them not to do that? Didn't think it was fragile.

Yeah I wouldn't pull on it. I normally close the glass for my rear passengers. I'd be afraid I'd never find a red one again

I can appreciate the joy of solving an issue that has irritated you for 'some time'. It's like life has given you a small 'win'.
... and if you're kids enjoy riding back there, I'd be making my next small project the fabrication of a 'pull strap' of some kind for them. Time to stroll around Lowes or the HD for ideas.

i rode in the third seat one time in the black car, to find where the annoying squeak was coming from,.it was the whole back glass not really tight enough in its rubber,. adjusted the latch,. drowned it in wd 40 and all is good,.

Nick

congrats on the "win" !! Get one of those dent pulling suction cups, put that on back glass on kid hauling days!

brokecello wrote:

congrats on the "win" !! Get one of those dent pulling suction cups, put that on back glass on kid hauling days!

That might mess up the window tint....

Only if you leave it there permanently!Just pop it off when not needed and clean off any residue
with glass cleaner!

The light has a metal plate running through it. The nuts that hold it only go into the plastic exterior handle. The handle is fairly fragile. A piece of nylon strap/rope could be attached across the bottom of the struts. The stress on the glass would be minimal. Closing it for the rear seat occupants is the safest way to do it. No matter what, be gentle with the glass, they can break, and shower whoever is in the rear seat with shards. Tint makes them much stronger, and if it does break, it keeps the pieces together.

You can change the bulbs by removing just the bottom. The top can stay in place.

I have a couple of spare DMR third lights. There is always SEM paint to get the color you want.

If you remove the third light from the gate, be careful putting the screws back in the handle. They are a double trace, and one is larger than the other. If you get the thread in the wrong track, it will strip out the handle. You should be able to turn the screw in with your fingers, and only tighten it with a wrench.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

If you remove the third light from the gate, be careful putting the screws back in the handle. They are a double trace, and one is larger than the other. If you get the thread in the wrong track, it will strip out the handle. You should be able to turn the screw in with your fingers, and only tighten it with a wrench.

This^^^ is important to learn whenever you are dealing with plastic. Find the 'sweet spot' with your fingers before using a driver.

Lots of good info, thanks all.

And it was mentioned about SEM coating the case....my case is black. Did the housing on the older cars match the interior color?

-Mike

Most of the cases match the color of the interior. There are some black ones. There are also some that have turned black from sun exposure as well. The bottoms of those are still the interior color.

Fred Kiehl wrote:

Most of the cases match the color of the interior. There are black some ones. There are also some that have turned black from sun exposure as well. The bottoms of those are still the interior color.

Interesting. Mine is all black..which is fine....hides with the window tint.