sittinlow

I have a rattle coming from the back passenger deck area that seems to get worse as the car sits in the sun (when the car is cold, the rattle is less prominent). I'd like to find out what's causing the rattle by removing the rear deck but am unsure how to go about doing so. Has anyone removed theirs before or have instructions? The car is a 2003 ES300 with the rear sun screen. Any help would be greatly appreciated as the rattling is driving me crazy.

steviej

iTrader: (1)

I have a similar rattle occasionally. I found it to be the rear high mount brake light cover.
Remove and reposition it and it clear the noise.

steviej

MoreMGD32

iTrader: (1)

hey man,

go to this link, it will tell you how to remove the rear deck brake light. once the covering is removed you will need to remove the rear seats.

to remove the rear seats, start with removing the bottom part of the seat (the part you sit down on to). starting from the left or right side of the front of the seat. gently work your fingers into the seem under the lip of the seat where the carpet and leather meet, push back toward the trunk and pull up in one swift motion. this should release one side of the seat. this might take a firm grip. repeat on the other side to remove it completely.

once removed, you should see that the back part of the seat (the part your back rests upon) is fastened underneath with 2 bolts on on each side to secure it. i believe these bolts are 14mm. remove these! Grab the bottom of the seat, pushing torward the trunk and in and upward motion(torward the roof) should release the seat from the vehicle. you will also need to mess around with the seatbelts and untangle them from the seat. these processes may take a little bit of wiggling and patience.

Once the rear seat is completely removed there should be some plastic brads that secure the front of the rear deck to the sheet metal. remove these and there may be some more underneath the deck that will need to be popped, be gentle as the rear deck is pretty thin.

i might suggest some dynamat or some other sort of sound deadener, you can find some good deals on ebay.

reinstall everything in the same opposite order of removing everything.

there is my 2 cents

sittinlow

Thanks a lot for the tips and instructions. I'll give it a shot this weekend.

sittinlow

MoreMGD32,
Your instructions to remove the rear seat worked perfectly. After riding around in the rear to locate the rattle I found that it's actually coming from the headliner where the window meets the roof. I had read that some IS owners had this issue with the retaining clips for the back window so maybe that's where my problem lies. Anyone ever remove the back headliner?

MoreMGD32

iTrader: (1)

well unfortunately ive done this process too many times. to install my system, then to install dynamat, then to change the deck bulbs, pain in the ***! ive pretty much got it to a science now. hope everything with the headliner goes well

sittinlow

Just as an update, I was able to pull down the edge of the headliner enough to locate the clip that was causing the issue. There was a small plastic looking piece that passed through a metal bracket in the roof. I simply bent the bracket slightly and the noise has gone away completely.

MoreMGD32

iTrader: (1)

good man!