# Irritating glovebox rattle RESOLVED



## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

Now I don't mind the odd rattle from time to time, and to be honest coming from a Mk1 I'm used to them, but there was a continuous noise from the glove box that was driving me mad!

The noise is hard to describe; it was like a rattly, clicky, squeaky sound that was relentless at around 30mph, which was pretty much the same with the glove box open or closed.

After investigation today, including wedging tissues in various locations, I've finally found the source of the noise and resolved the problem.

Between the left hand side of the glove box enclosure and the dashboard there's a little rubber spacer and when I applied pressure to the glove box at that point the noise could be heard.










I looked at the other side of the glove box and there was a gap between the rubber and the dashboard and looking up inside the glove box I could see that the glovebox was mounted fully over to the left of its adjustment.










You can see that there was very little gap between the glove box door and the left hand side of the dashboard.










I've adjusted the glove box across enough to centralise the bolts.










This has also widened the gap between the glove box door and the dashboard.










There is now a gap between the rubber on both sides of the glove box enclosure and the dashboard and the irritating noise has gone!

I thought that I'd post this just in case anyone else is suffering with the same problem.


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Great post! Is the first picture the left side of the glove box with it open? It's hard to see the spacer. I've had a bit of a rattle on mine and found leaving the box open didn't change it so will check this out.


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## double0 (Oct 20, 2010)

Nice find and good pics - sure this will help out someone else


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## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

ScoobyTT said:


> Great post! Is the first picture the left side of the glove box with it open? It's hard to see the spacer. I've had a bit of a rattle on mine and found leaving the box open didn't change it so will check this out.


It's about half way up the left hand side of the open glovebox.


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## IC_HOTT (May 29, 2010)

Thanks Peter, informative post which is what this forum is about :wink:


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## MXS (May 10, 2010)

Good post buddy.


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

Well done Peter Tyneside Audi said it was a pen causing the rattle [smiley=argue.gif] I just blocked it out over time.


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## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

As it was the only rattle I really wanted to get it sorted; it only took about half an hour.


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

wallsendmag said:


> Well done Peter Tyneside Audi said it was a pen causing the rattle [smiley=argue.gif] I just blocked it out over time.


Did you ask them to take the pen out of the glovebox?  Honestly these dealers are useless.



peter-ss said:


> It's about half way up the left hand side of the open glovebox.


I see now; thanks. I had a look in mine whilst cleaning this morning and noticed that mine is over to the right. I also saw what must be the rubber spacers you mentioned - just a couple of little rubber stops, like rounded cuboids - touching on one side but not the other. Presumably you just need to loosen the bolts a turn or two just to let the box slide a bit. I'll give it a go if I can find a socket the right size


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

ScoobyTT said:


> wallsendmag said:
> 
> 
> > Well done Peter Tyneside Audi said it was a pen causing the rattle [smiley=argue.gif]
> ...


Well I noticed that my glovebox is off-centre and that one of the pads is touching the side. So, during a service I asked my friendly dealer to adjust it.

They found a pen in the glove box and said that the rattle stopped when they took it out. :roll: FFS are they deaf?
Apparently the glove box lid also "can't" be adjusted. These are really skilled technicians, huh? I had even told them what needs doing. What part of "the customer is always right" don't they understand? :x

Needless to say the car was returned with an empty glove box. Guess what happened as I drove along. [smiley=bomb.gif]

The pen makes no additional noise at all. Quelle suprise.


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## hope88 (Mar 25, 2011)

Great post! Should sticky this in the KB?


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## Myttrocks (Mar 30, 2011)

I tried this but found that I needed to loosen some of the other bolts (three on top, two at bottom) before the glovebox would slide. Centering it perfectly still didn't resolve an intermittent rattle from that area, so I proceeded to remove the whole box which took less than 5 minutes. Now I just need to work out the source of the noise which only appears on certain rough road surfaces.


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

That sounds just like the problem I have, but I don't have the tools to go digging around. I'd love to know what it is!


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## maxamus007 (Mar 9, 2011)

Great post.

Tip:
I've sorted alot of rattles using good old *Blu-Tack* including rear parcel shelf and ashtray. It takes away the vibrations.


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## MaXius (May 15, 2009)

If you open the passenger side door and then use a screwdriver to take off the side panel from the dashboard there, you'll see a black thing that looks like a pack of lifesavers. This is what tilts and makes the light go on when you open the glovebox.

Unfortunately it also rattles like a mutha at certain road frequencies.. silence it any way you like. YMMV.


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## MGuruX (Dec 11, 2011)

Excellent post!

I think I have the same "NICE" rattle....Will take a look today for sure


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## Krpano (Dec 25, 2011)

thx for sharing the solution, ill check my glovebox tomorrow.

cheers


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## Thesa1nT (Nov 9, 2011)

Thanks for the tip on the adjustment...

I also have a rattle coming from the glovebox and I have noticed that the lock is loose and when you wiggle it it makes a rattly noise. Could be this as well and worth a look....

I may just wedge some thick paper or thin craft cardboard cut into a suitably wide strip and then made into a circular shape to fit around the locks circumference or something like that...worth a go!


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## brittan (May 18, 2007)

I've had a look at my glovebox today since I've had the rattle over rougher roads and on one occasion the lid popped open while on the move.
The lid was located centrally in the dash aperture but seemed a little loose when closed. A quick check revealed a rubber buffer on one side of the lid, located adjacent to the lock pin and an empty space where it's twin should have been on the other side. Happily I quickly found the rubber buffer in the sun glasses niche inside the lid.
The buffer is very small so I rolled up a short length of masking tape, sticky side out and stuck the buffer on the end. That made it easy to get it back in place, secured with a dab of super glue, without fat fingers getting in the way.
Result: the lid now needs a firmer push to shut it securely.

I've also done a little experiment on the lid damper unit located behind the dashboard end plate. On examination the damper has a pivot point on the side of the glove box and that pivot is a rattling good fit. All I've done is fix a short length of elastic between the top of the damper and the metal structure behind the dash end panel to provide constant tension in one direction at all times and hopefully eliminate any rattle at the pivot. The elastic is under slight tension with the glovebox shut and is then stretched as the lid opens. This does slow down the lid movement as it opens but not drastically. 
We'll see how this behaves over the next few weeks.


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