Factory leftovers...
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Joined: Mar 2012
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Factory leftovers...
Has anyone ever found anything in their car, that could have only been left there during assembly in the factory?
I bought my 05 back in May, with only about 54,000 miles on it. For the past 4 or 5 months, occasionally when going around a turn "spiritedly" I would hear a tumbling / rattling sound coming from the driver side of the car. Sounded like a rock or something foreign was stuck in the frame rail somewhere. This weekend, I finally said enough and was determined to figure out the cause of the noise.
I first started inspecting under the car, but the only open part of the frame runs front to back, the noise I would get was clearly a left to right tumbling sound of a least a few inches.
Then I thought, maybe something had been dropped in the area behind the seat, when the top is down. I didn't see anything, and the sound always seemed like it was coming from right under my feet.
Then I thought, what about the floor cross brace!?! I didn't think there were any openings, but I cut a small slice in the carpet, above where the right floor mat retaining peg is attached.
I round a 1/2" hole in the cross brace. After some more "spirited" driving, I was able to get the source of my mysterious rattling to tumble towards the center of the car, while I had my index finger in the hole of the brace! (that made for some interesting driving) Sure enough, I felt something tumble and hit my finger! I drove super slow back to my house, about a half mile from where I was, all the while keeping my finger in the brace on the object! I was able to use a pickup tool like this to reach in the hole and pull out a friggin' bolt!
It's clearly a brand new bolt, never been installed or tightened down. Looks to me almost like a seat frame bolt! There's no way that fell in there from the previous owner, unless they had the carpet out of the car at some point, which I doubt. My only thought is that someone on the assembly line must have dropped it in the cross brace, before the carpet was installed, and figured they'd never get it out, so they just left it there!
Anyhow, now I can drive, rattle free! I only wonder how annoyed the previous owner was by the tumbling of that bolt back and forth every time they went around a corner!?!?
Anyone else ever come across anything like this?
I bought my 05 back in May, with only about 54,000 miles on it. For the past 4 or 5 months, occasionally when going around a turn "spiritedly" I would hear a tumbling / rattling sound coming from the driver side of the car. Sounded like a rock or something foreign was stuck in the frame rail somewhere. This weekend, I finally said enough and was determined to figure out the cause of the noise.
I first started inspecting under the car, but the only open part of the frame runs front to back, the noise I would get was clearly a left to right tumbling sound of a least a few inches.
Then I thought, maybe something had been dropped in the area behind the seat, when the top is down. I didn't see anything, and the sound always seemed like it was coming from right under my feet.
Then I thought, what about the floor cross brace!?! I didn't think there were any openings, but I cut a small slice in the carpet, above where the right floor mat retaining peg is attached.
I round a 1/2" hole in the cross brace. After some more "spirited" driving, I was able to get the source of my mysterious rattling to tumble towards the center of the car, while I had my index finger in the hole of the brace! (that made for some interesting driving) Sure enough, I felt something tumble and hit my finger! I drove super slow back to my house, about a half mile from where I was, all the while keeping my finger in the brace on the object! I was able to use a pickup tool like this to reach in the hole and pull out a friggin' bolt!
It's clearly a brand new bolt, never been installed or tightened down. Looks to me almost like a seat frame bolt! There's no way that fell in there from the previous owner, unless they had the carpet out of the car at some point, which I doubt. My only thought is that someone on the assembly line must have dropped it in the cross brace, before the carpet was installed, and figured they'd never get it out, so they just left it there!
Anyhow, now I can drive, rattle free! I only wonder how annoyed the previous owner was by the tumbling of that bolt back and forth every time they went around a corner!?!?
Anyone else ever come across anything like this?
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Joined: Mar 2012
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Just a small slice running towards my seat, from the corner of the slice that's already there from the floor mat retaining peg. Honestly, when it's folded back down, you can't even tell it's there. And now I can easily tighten the screw on the floor mat peg, it was a little loose.
Joined: Oct 2012
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I bought a 2007 Toyota Camry new, and had a similar rattle from the day I drove it off the lot. I took it to the dealer right before the warranty was up and they spent a couple hours figuring out what it was. Turns out it was a piece of slag or solder inside the driver's seat.
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From: Gold Coast
That EG owner just got out of jail...
hahaha...https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/103...s-out-of-jail/
Joke..
Joined: Oct 2009
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From: Ontario Canada
no biggie on the carpet, those slits are built into the carpet and designed to give access to the floor mat pins if you ever have to replace them. I opened up my carpet in that spot as my mat pins were rusting and I wanted to re-paint them. The carpet folds back down just fine.
I'd also say it could be a seat bolt, it is definitely a Honda oem bolt and never been used. Nice work tracking it down.
I'd also say it could be a seat bolt, it is definitely a Honda oem bolt and never been used. Nice work tracking it down.