SledDriver

My 08 RX with 70k miles made a rattling noise, but only when I drove above 45-50 mph.. It wouldn't do it when I drove over R.R. tracks or speed bumps.

Drove me nuts!

Sounded like a seat belt buckle contacting the plastic trim on the door frame.

What I discovered was the plastic fairing on the fuel tank was “flapping in the breeze” against the body.

I tried to bend it to preload it against the body, but it’s to flimsy. I ended up putting sticky back foam on the body & the fairing to dampen the noise.

Eureka!! It works

jgr7

iTrader: (1)

Nice fix thanks for sharing.

tadclark

some 3M tape also work really well. Just tape a few layers to the plastic fuel tank cover.

ghuns

I have the same problem with that plastic panel. It started Saturday night when I was driving home in the dark on a 4 lane highway. Cruising along about 70 and hit something, couldn't tell what it was, but the rattle immediately started. My question is, what used to hold the panel in place? I am thinking about laying a bead of construction adhesive across it and wedging something under there until it cures.

thomas1

great pictures by the way, worth a thousand words, thank you

KonkBob

Thanks for the photo's. When mine started to make that noise I put two sheet metal screws through the pan approx 6 inches apart holding on a semi-circular loop of vacuum hose pretensioned up aganst the underbody. I thought it was an eloquent fix. But I still get that noise occasionally. I do like the foam idea though. I even wonder how important is the damn thing? What would happen if I cut an inch or two of plastic off the top?
What I'm wondering is why that pan starts making noise at some random point during the life of the RX. My guess is that it begins to happen when one, some, or all the tires get enough out of balance. I'm not feeling vibration. But perhaps it doesn't take much, combined with windage, to get that thing oscillating. Any thoughts?

ghuns

I know whatever I hit knocked mine loose. It must be just stuck in place by the undercoating. I have some heavy duty 3M double stick tape. Wiped off both surfaces with denatured alcohol and stuck it back up there. We'll see how long she holds.