jinxy Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 When waiting for a facia adapter for my double din stereo I had to drive the 350 with no stereo so I could hear all the rattles/creaks and managed to sort most of them but this one was the worst. I initially thought it was something in the strut brace but then found it was actually coming from the third brake light mounted on the tailgate. It seems the problem is with two plastic hooks that tap against the metal or glass of the tailgate creating the annoying tapping noise. Below is a quick guide how to stop annoying metallic sounding rattle/tapping/creaking noise coming from the boot/tailgate area, it worked for me but I’m not guaranteeing it will solve your rattle! Parts required: [*:3c5a36fx]Stick on felt – to insulate any noise[*:3c5a36fx]Philips screw driver – to remove brake light surround[*:3c5a36fx]Small socket set – to remove brake light[*:3c5a36fx]Trim removing tool (or replacement clips!)[*:3c5a36fx]Patience and care when removing trim – very easy to snap a clip First you need to remove the large lower trim piece from the tailgate. It is held on with clips that are very easy to snap, so be careful and slowly prise it off. I used a simple spatula from the kitchen to help persuade the clips off – starting from the sides. Once the main piece is off you need to pull the side parts off. These come off sideways – don’t make the mistake and pull off downwards like I did! Ha! Finally the last horizontal piece of trim will need clipping off and you will be able to see the exposed screw heads to remove the brake light enclosure. Once the enclosure is removed you will see that the brake light is held in place by two flanged nuts – unscrew these and the light will slide sideways and drop down. You will now see the two offending clips that seemed to be creating all the noise. It is strange as I am not sure why they are really needed and they seem to already have some sort of felt already on them so Nissan must have know it was a problem. I thought about adding more felt to them to dampen the noise but decided to just snap them off as they are not really needed as the light is held in place by the two nuts. I also added the stick on felt to the brake light to dampen any other noise that could be generated and put everything back together. Clip on the light: Clip snapped off: Been out for a spin down the normal offending bumpy roads and it is silence in the back… just a couple of noises coming from the dash that are next on my hitlist! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinxy Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Below is a video of the noise the light was making against the metal/glass before the fix: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RisingPower Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 I found just changing the exhaust so you can't hear it anymore fixed the issue Anyhew, if you figure out how to fix the irritating dash rattle, for me around the security light, i'd be interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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