Lately I've had this really annoying rattling sound coming from somewhere in the back. I tried to isolate it but never was able to figure it out. It's been getting worse and worse. Today I finally had enough and narrowed it down to somewhere in the rear hatch so I tore all the plastic trim off and this is what I found, sandwiched between two pieces of stamped sheet metal. It's probably been there ever since the car was built and has been working it's way to where it could vibrate inside the space between the two pieces of metal. No wonder it was causing the most annoying rattle ever.



Sorry for the image quality. It's a section of antenna. From where, I don't know as my power antenna is fully intact. What surprises have you discovered that the factory left behind while tearing into the car?

 

we had a Mazda 3 come in one time, the car was basically new, and it had a noise like an acorn was rolling around under the windsheild cowl.

of course we took off that, found nothing, still made the noise.

fast forward a couple of weeks, and we had the front of the car stripped, fenders doors, seats, etc etc, still made the noise.

the tech ended up buying a fiber optic borescope thing, and found a nice 8mm bolt somewhere deep in the A pillar. clumsy robot!

 

there is the legendary American flag story too.

this was right after 9/11, car was a protege 5, and the owner brought it in, and it made this weird wheel bearing sound between 25-55mph.
so we ordered a wheel bearing, that didn't fix it. the shop starts pulling the back half of the car apart, making no difference, we even had the gas tank out, Mazda wanted to put a transmission in it.

after a while (maybe a month) of nothing, we sent it to another dealership. of course they call us like 8:30 the next day saying they fixed it. then they called us @8:37 saying they didn't.

finally about noon, the car's fixed. it turns out the owner had put one of those little American flags on the roof, and when it flapped, it transmitted horrible noises through out the car.

the fix was simple, removing the flag, Mazda covered more than 20 hours of labor, it actually really wasn't even warranty at all! i think they covered it because it was cheaper than a transmission...

can you imagine bringing a car to the dealership and then being charged 20 hours of labor to remove a flag? $2200!

 

^wow. amazing.

 

thats soo funny because while working at mazda I had a new cx7 that had acorns in the frame under the back seat I had to cut them out

 

you see some crazy stuff working on new cars! once the thing is 2-3 years old any weird quirks have shown and they just have normal wear, new cars have all kinds of weird problems!

actually another funny rattle story is a guy brought his Mazda in and complained about a rattle in the trunk.

so the tech opens the trunk and finds the guys spiked dog collar, leash and rubber underwear.

:awkward turtle:

so he put the "clothing" in a place where it wouldn't make noises, and the RO says something about reattaching trunk trim.

 

I once found a dead hooker in the back of my Mazda 626, **** was weird.


I hate rattles and refuse to keep anything in my cars, and I hate when stuff shifts around while taking a turn really fast. That stuff annoyed me.

 

I had (still have) a 1977 Chrysler sedan. The original carpet started to wear, so I ordered a carpet kit for it.
Tore up the old carpet and threw it away, and looked at the floorpan. It was sprayed factory green like the rest of the car, with all the original Chrysler undercoating, etc.

There, embedded in the original undercoating, sprayed green like the rest of the floorpan, was a coin. Date marked 1984. I was the second owner of the car, and the original owner had never had the car resprayed or the carpets out, and just sold it to me. How the hell that coin was there, laid under the rubberized undercoating, I still dont know to this day.

 

so you're asking how chrysler had a 1984 coin in 1977?

 

I had the door panel apart on a chevy malibu a few years back, diagnosing an inoperative power window. vehicle had ~30k on it and is far as i could tell, I was the 1st person since it was assembled to have ripped into the door as the plastic sheeting was still fully secured by the adhesive and what not. either way, I was removing the window motor/regulator and dropped one the nuts inside the door, I reach in to feel for it and found what looked to be brand new snap-on flat head screw driver. needless to say, that screwdriver made its way into my tool box

 

Reminds me of the old Brian Bosworth stories...

 

Simple. Advanced technology.