Roof Rattle

[WunWun]

Hi folks! I just purchased my Bronco Sort Badlands less than a week ago. Within the first 24 hours, I noticed a rattling noise in the vehicle.

I searched the vehicle and found this little yellow plastic piece in the spare tire area (see pictures). This was not the source of the rattling but glad I found it anyway.

I’ve pinpointed the rattling to be in the roof, on the passenger side, at the top of the pillar where the front and back door meet. It sounds like a metal on metal, possibly a screw rolling around. The audio in the video I’ve uploaded is what I am hearing (forgive the video as we took it at night). It occurs whenever I take a right turn or the car shifts to the right, i.e. changing lanes. You can also hear it when you shake the car, but it stopped when shaking from the outside and only happens if I’m bouncing around on the inside of the vehicle.

I took the vehicle back to dealer, but they said they could not replicate the problem. I shook the vehicle and I could not replicate it, so I checked out and started to drive home. I did not even make it a mile before I started to hear it again. I am taking the vehicle back tomorrow for them to check again and will test drive with them to make sure they hear what I am talking about.

I would love to hear thoughts on the issue.

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[Mark S.]

Since it's under warranty, and you've already gotten the runaround, you might feel committed to making your service department actually fix the damn thing. If you get completely frustrated with that process, and you feel a bit adventurous, you can probably fix it yourself without a great deal of difficulty.

The headliner is a one-piece, fabric-covered plastic panel. If you can get your fingers between it and the trim piece holding it up, you should be able to carefully pull it down. Don't pull it too far or too hard, or you might put a kink in it. The photo below is the rubber seal around the rear hatch pulled down to show the headliner.

Once you've pulled it down enough you should be able to look above it with a flashlight to see what might be causing the noise.

 

[WunWun]

Since it's under warranty, and you've already gotten the runaround, you might feel committed to making your service department actually fix the damn thing. If you get completely frustrated with that process, and you feel a bit adventurous, you can probably fix it yourself without a great deal of difficulty.

The headliner is a one-piece, fabric-covered plastic panel. If you can get your fingers between it and the trim piece holding it up, you should be able to carefully pull it down. Don't pull it too far or too hard, or you might put a kink in it. The photo below is the rubber seal around the rear hatch pulled down to show the headliner.

Once you've pulled it down enough you should be able to look above it with a flashlight to see what might be causing the noise.

Thank you! I will have to take a look at that. I would be really disappointed if the service department wants to give me the runaround on this.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Hi folks! I just purchased my Bronco Sort Badlands less than a week ago. Within the first 24 hours, I noticed a rattling noise in the vehicle.

I searched the vehicle and found this little yellow plastic piece in the spare tire area (see pictures). This was not the source of the rattling but glad I found it anyway.

I’ve pinpointed the rattling to be in the roof, on the passenger side, at the top of the pillar where the front and back door meet. It sounds like a metal on metal, possibly a screw rolling around. The audio in the video I’ve uploaded is what I am hearing (forgive the video as we took it at night). It occurs whenever I take a right turn or the car shifts to the right, i.e. changing lanes. You can also hear it when you shake the car, but it stopped when shaking from the outside and only happens if I’m bouncing around on the inside of the vehicle.

I took the vehicle back to dealer, but they said they could not replicate the problem. I shook the vehicle and I could not replicate it, so I checked out and started to drive home. I did not even make it a mile before I started to hear it again. I am taking the vehicle back tomorrow for them to check again and will test drive with them to make sure they hear what I am talking about.

I would love to hear thoughts on the issue.

Hey there. I can look into your Bronco’s noise concerns on my end if you’d like. Will you send us a private message with your VIN and dealership info?

 

[Glamdring70]

I'd check the exterior. Are all the panels down firmly? The C and D pillars? They're taped on. As Mark says, you can do some exploratory diagnosing, but if you break it, they'll let you deal with it. Dealers are infamous for "could not replicate". Get another dealer or get a SM to take a test drive with you. If the service manager won't, make the sales guy take the ride and he can advocate for you with the service department. Sales doesn't stop when you sign, IMO.

 

[RiotfunK]

Do you have a moonroof. Mine rattled like that after a few miles. The roof wasn’t lubed up and there was something with the track system.
I could stop the rattle by pushing up slightly on the front of the roof glass.
Ford was able to fix my roof.

My dash still sounds like the titanic with all the creaking and rattles. I can stop that from making noise by pushing on the dash to left of wheel.
It took multiple videos and a few drives with a tech before they would even look at it though. And that was with Ford CM involved.
They have those clips in the doors and rear hatch. It almost sounds like the bottom part of it is rattling around or a loose screw.

 

[Bucko]

Before I attempt to locate and fix it myself, I'd go the route that the OP stated, and take the service manager out for a test drive to let he/she hear it.

You don't want to accidently break anything getting into the headliner area looking for the noise...it would put you on your own in the way of getting it repaired under warranty and cost free.

 

[WunWun]

Do you have a moonroof. Mine rattled like that after a few miles. The roof wasn’t lubed up and there was something with the track system.
I could stop the rattle by pushing up slightly on the front of the roof glass.
Ford was able to fix my roof.

My dash still sounds like the titanic with all the creaking and rattles. I can stop that from making noise by pushing on the dash to left of wheel.
It took multiple videos and a few drives with a tech before they would even look at it though. And that was with Ford CM involved.
They have those clips in the doors and rear hatch. It almost sounds like the bottom part of it is rattling around or a loose screw.

No moonroof here. I hear a few creaks here and there but nothing as severe as what is in the videos. I’m literally at the dealership right now, waiting for someone to be available so I can drive them around. Pretty sure that’s the only way this is going to get fixed.

 

[jofer]

Is it possible it's the interior lights? One of those rattles in mine. At least in my case, a guitar pick was a quick fix that's worked well for a long time.

 

[WunWun]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you…the cause of all my headaches…a…a…thing.

The pocket knife is for reference scale. It is 2.25 inches long.

They said it was a plug for the antenna used during shipping since those are installed by the dealership when the vehicle reaches destination. Not sure if they are right, but it sounds possibly correct. Since it was under the headliner, they said it had to come from manufacturing and I agree.

Just luck of the draw, I guess. I wouldn’t even say this is a quality thing since I don’t know how hard they drive them once they are built before they load them on to trucks to be shipped. I’m just glad the rattle is over.

Only one more issue to address, when they disassembled/reassembled the car to get to the rattle, they left behind three small, but very noticeable, dot stains on my headliner. The dealership detailer comes on Saturday, so we will see if they can get them out.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. This was my first thread since I just bought my BS, but so happy the community looks out for what’s happening. Y’all are fantastic!

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