Infuriating Rattle…Solved!

Guvna

Active Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
551
Location
Victoria, Australia
Vehicle(s)
MY17 Subaru Levorg 2.0LTR GTS
So, I’ve had a rattle for a while now. Couldn’t for the life of me work out where it was coming from. I HATE RATTLES! It wasn’t too bad at the start but continued to worsen and change its sound. At first I thought it was the passenger front dash tweeter cover, as I had that problem in my MY15 WRX. Solved that by cutting a plastic washer in half and wedging it in the side, problem solved. This time I simply took the grille cover off and drove it, rattle persisted :(
It kept getting worse and louder. Probably stiffer suspension with the Coilovers added to the effect. I then suspected it was coming from the eyesight cover area, it started sounding like less of a rattle and more like a globe bouncing around on the light cover. Took them off, bulbs were secured, not the problem. I then removed the cover around the auto braking and lane departure off buttons on the eyesight cover, took it for a drive, rattle still there, even louder. So I took off the entire eyesight cover thinking it was rattling against something. Unfortunately before I did this I bought some foam tape from Bunnings thinking to use that to stop the vibration. It wasn’t needed in the end. Took it for a drive, still there, started touching bits to see if it stopped with a little success, but not enough for my liking.
Studied it all closer when I got home and finally found the culprit. It was the electric sunroof motor. When I pushed quickly and repeatedly on it it rattled like the speaker grille sort of rattle. Looking further to the drivers side, slightly under the hood lining I found a bolt hole that looked like it had a bolt in it at some stage due to the scuffing around it, but no longer, tried a magnetic stick inside the lining to see if I could pick up the bolt thinking it had worked it’s way loose. No luck. So then the stripping of the interior started. A pillar covers, door rubbers, speaker grilles on dash, sun visors ’oh shit bars’ over the front doors, and sunroof trim surround. Now able to pull the hood lining down a little, guess what I found, a 10mm bolt that used to live in the sunroof motor mounting bracket! Woohoo…Success. So there ended up being two noises, the sunroof motor mounting bracket rattling against the roof, and the dislodged bolt bouncing around the hood lining. All I needed now were my wife’s little fingers to be able to get up in there to put the bolt back in it’s home, she obliged and voila, tightened it up, a little extra torque as I DO NOT wanna strip it all down again.
The only thing left to do now is to put it all back together and hope I haven’t created a different rattle lol
But that’s a job for tomorrow morning. I’ve taken some photos showing how certain trim pieces are removed and of the missing bolt location etc I’ll resize them tomorrow and add them to this thread, as I couldn’t find any info on the web about disassembling Levorg interiors, I found bits here and there on MY15+ WRX’s and Outback’s and went from there, but it was tedious and time consuming and some of the parts are only similar, not the same. The photos were just taken on iPhone and at night so hopefully they will be clear enough to show the important bits, and make it easier for someone else to do it. Most of the stuff I found about rattles from the eyesight area people used foam tape but with only limited success. Will update on how successful I was in eliminating the rattle when I’ve reassembled and test driven, but I am confident it will be gone now that the bolt has been reinstalled. And there should finally be some Levorg specific photos out there now ;)
 
Last edited:

Guvna

Active Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
551
Location
Victoria, Australia
Vehicle(s)
MY17 Subaru Levorg 2.0LTR GTS
Ok so update, I've put the interior back together and the rattle is gone, just as importantly I didn't create any new rattles during the process, so Mission Success. The iPhone photos weren't much chop so I took better ones with my DSLR today. Pretty much took a photo of every stage and every clip to illustrate how they should be removed to avoid damage. I'll post them if someone has the same rattle and needs them. For now I'll attach one photo of all the parts that needed to be removed, and another that shows, where the bolt was missing from, where it was found (by my wife actually), and of it back in its home where it belongs.
NB. My apologies, I just noticed incorrect wording on the picture with 3 photos :(
The first one should read ‘Bolt missing from sunroof motor mounting bracket ’ AND NOT ‘bolt hole from missing sunroof motor mounting bracket’
The bracket was there, the bolt just wasn’t in it ;)
Parts Removed - Snipped Shot Lumix.PNGEyesight Rattle Excel Doc Snipped.PNG
 
Last edited:

Guvna

Active Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
551
Location
Victoria, Australia
Vehicle(s)
MY17 Subaru Levorg 2.0LTR GTS
Good work, I look forward to seeing the photos so I know where to look for my sun roof bolts!
If you want / need more pics let me know, I'll resize and post them for you. Took shots of everything lol
 

Guvna

Active Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
551
Location
Victoria, Australia
Vehicle(s)
MY17 Subaru Levorg 2.0LTR GTS
Wonder if that bolt is loose on all cars or are you just unlucky?
My thoughts exactly. Whilst researching the web and YouTube on it I found quite a few people with Foresters and Outbacks with rattles from the eyesight area, no one found a missing bolt though, and reported only limited success with putting foam tape under the eyesight cover. I suspect their bolt may be out too but they just didn’t find it, it is quite hidden under the hood lining, I didn’t find it immediately either. The tape would have stopped the sunroof motor rattling a bit but the bolt would still be rattling away, hence their only limited success in resolving it. I have driven off-road a fair bit, rough roads and tighter suspension adding to the bolt undoing I guess. It’s so nice to have near silence again now, feels like a new car again, I really hate rattles and this was a bad one. Not constant, as the bolt would sometimes wedge against wiring and move less, then get free and rattle again. It would be possible to not have to remove a lot of the parts I had to depending on where the bolt is when the eyesight cover comes off. I needed the hood lining loose to be able to tap it up and down to knock the bolt into view, unlucky I guess, but all good now ;)
 
Last edited:

Lenny

New Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
21
Thank God for the internet. We've had what I can only guess is the same rattle for a while now and it's driving me nuts. If you're driving it sounds like the passenger side and vise versa. It was only this morning that we worked out it must be more central. I'm hoping that this is the one. Thanks for post and putting up the pics. I'll get onto it (when I get some time)... I just hope our bolt is just as easily found, its got quite the rattle on. Sounds like a marble rolling around in the dash.
 
Last edited:

Guvna

Active Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
551
Location
Victoria, Australia
Vehicle(s)
MY17 Subaru Levorg 2.0LTR GTS
Thank God for the internet. We've had what I can only guess is the same rattle for a while now and it's driving me nuts. If you're driving it sounds like the passenger side and vise versa. It was only this morning that we worked out it must be more central. I'm hoping that this is the one. Thanks for post and putting up the pics. I'll get onto it (when I get some time)... I just hope our bolt is just as easily found, its got quite the rattle on. Sounds like a marble rolling around in the dash.
Haha sounds like it could be the culprit. I found heaps of posts about it on other subies but no one ever found a missing bolt. They just tried using felt tape etc with only limited reduction in rattle. Mine is dead quiet again since finding and reinstalling that damn bolt. Hope you have as much success. Good luck with it, let me know if you need more pics ;)
 

Lenny

New Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
21
Apart from getting the bolt back in it was a 10min job. The bolt will have to wait for another day. Looks like a bit of fiddling or wicked old witch fingers to get that bad boy in. Thanks again.
 

Zarnow

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2023
Messages
2
Vehicle(s)
Red Levorg GT-S
Thanks heaps for posting this. I just got my Levorg and also had a rattle that sounded like a bulb/screw rolling around eyesight/overhead console shroud.

Took me 10 minutes all up. Just need to start by taking off the small piece of lane departure trim with a thin pry tool working from the left across, then removed a couple of 8mm bolts (I think they were 8mm?). I then hit the main plastic shroud with a trim prying tool. Once it dropped down enough I then had access to grab the 10mm bolt that fell down from the sunroof motor mounting bracket. I gave a short attempt to get the bolt back in with my swivel socket ends. But the bolt and the bolt holes looked a bit damaged/cross threaded. So I let it be.

I'm very much looking forward to driving and going some bumps/awkward angles without having the noise of something rolling around up there.

Thanks again!

I am now one happy new Levorg owner! Cheers!
20230210_141929.jpg
 

Guvna

Active Member
Joined
May 18, 2017
Messages
551
Location
Victoria, Australia
Vehicle(s)
MY17 Subaru Levorg 2.0LTR GTS
Thanks heaps for posting this. I just got my Levorg and also had a rattle that sounded like a bulb/screw rolling around eyesight/overhead console shroud.

Took me 10 minutes all up. Just need to start by taking off the small piece of lane departure trim with a thin pry tool working from the left across, then removed a couple of 8mm bolts (I think they were 8mm?). I then hit the main plastic shroud with a trim prying tool. Once it dropped down enough I then had access to grab the 10mm bolt that fell down from the sunroof motor mounting bracket. I gave a short attempt to get the bolt back in with my swivel socket ends. But the bolt and the bolt holes looked a bit damaged/cross threaded. So I let it be.

I'm very much looking forward to driving and going some bumps/awkward angles without having the noise of something rolling around up there.

Thanks again!

I am now one happy new Levorg owner! Cheers!
View attachment 1489
Glad it helped :cool:
I see you have the same roof racks as me too :p
 

Zarnow

New Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2023
Messages
2
Vehicle(s)
Red Levorg GT-S
I see you have the same roof racks as me too :p
I actually took the roof racks off today. They make a pretty loud whistling noise on the highway.
And I chuck the mountain bike in the boot anyways. So no loss.
 

Mrb285

New Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2023
Messages
1
Vehicle(s)
Levorg GT-s 2.0 sti pack
This thread just helped me remove an annoying rattle! Thanks team!
 
Top