• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Mystery Rattle

Share this page

warwick-steve

warwick-steve

Jedi Hopeful
Offline
Hi all,
Not a major issue but just annoying.
There is a "loose"rattle from the rear of the car when going over bumps which I cannot identify. I have checked the exhaust and everything looks tight. I wondered if it could be either a loose clamp on a spring or maybe a steady post in the brake drum in contact with the brake shoe. Anyone else had rattles caused by these items?
cheers
Steve
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: mystery rattle

Could it be a loose e-brake cable hitting the frame?
 
Re: mystery rattle

If it does turn out to be loose rear shockers (and I agree that is very likely) it could become a problem. If left loose, the bolt-holes become elongated and the shocker will move no matter how tight the fasteners are.
 
Re: mystery rattle

If the holes have become elongated, just drill a slightly larger hole in the shock and mounting bracket. Then use a larger bolt. I use a hex head Allen bolt rather a standard bolt because there's not much room to get a wrench on a standard bolt. An Allen wrench works much better. Oh and also use lock tight on the threads.
 
Last edited:
Re: mystery rattle

I've been a proponent of threadlocker since I found that I could torque down the front shocks with a grade 8 bolt and washer and blue threadlocker on the threads and never have to worry about them again. BUT--there's always a but, right?--I tried it on the rear shocks and it didn't hold, so it was back to grade 8 bolt and flat washer, with a grade 8 lockwasher and nut on the backside, plus all the torque I could put on them. Why threadlocker works everyplace but here I'm not sure, but it might be because the bolts are in shear, instead of in tension like on the front shocks, and the side-to-side motion causes them to loosen.
 
Re: mystery rattle

There is something called Nylock (I probably spelled it wrong) washers. It is like two washer with a kind of ratchet together. I put them on about 4 years ago and have not heard a peep out of the shocks since.
 
Re: mystery rattle

tahoe healey said:
There is something called Nylock (I probably spelled it wrong) washers. It is like two washer with a kind of ratchet together. I put them on about 4 years ago and have not heard a peep out of the shocks since.
Click to expand...

Nord-Lock washers. Grainger sells them - also Amazon:
https://www.grainger.com/category/washers/fasteners/ecatalog/N-8obZ1z0hk4o

screenshot.1270.jpg


I've had them on my front shocks for a couple of years with no loosening. My rears are tubes so no opinion there.
 
Re: mystery rattle

Try driving the car with the rear seats out and some dare devil in the back listening out for the noise, worked for me, I had a squeak and like most of the thread is leaning towards it was a loose shock.

:cheers:

Bob
 
Re: mystery rattle

Thanks for the info about the NordLock washers and the panhard idea.
I did a quick check of the shock absorber mountings before a more thorough look later this week. New shock absorbers were fitted about 2000 miles ago when I bought the car and they were fitted by a Healey specialist so they should know about the risk of them working loose. The bolts are fitted with (working outwards) washer + second washer that looks like a spring washer + nylock nut + standard nut! I am pretty sure they would not have come loose also, I would presume that the noise would be more of a "clunk" rather than a loose rattle. I will check this for sure and look for anything else. It may be something stupid like a tonneau fitting loose banging on the stud.
Thanks for your help
Steve
 
Re: mystery rattle

Think I found it. The two exhaust tailpipes touch each other at the first bend when they leave the box. I was able to move the pipes slightly and I think this slight rubbing movement between the two when going over bumps sufficient to cause the rattle sound.
Steve
 
Re: mystery rattle

warwick-steve said:
Think I found it. The two exhaust tailpipes touch each other at the first bend when they leave the box. I was able to move the pipes slightly and I think this slight rubbing movement between the two when going over bumps sufficient to cause the rattle sound.
Steve
Click to expand...
Hope that's it for you, but I did have a comment regarding the exhaust__clearly, it isn't loud enough!

A tinkling kind of rattle, I've found, is usually a looser-fitting clamp on one of the leaf-springs; I've had to deal with a couple of them (Moss-sourced around 1985-86).
 
Re: mystery rattle

Randy Forbes said:
Hope that's it for you, but I did have a comment regarding the exhaust__clearly, it isn't loud enough!

A tinkling kind of rattle, I've found, is usually a looser-fitting clamp on one of the leaf-springs; I've had to deal with a couple of them (Moss-sourced around 1985-86).
Click to expand...

I had that. It was the forward-most clamp - made a shim of 1/16" aluminum to stop the rattle.
 
Re: mystery rattle

Thanks Steve, My "final" conclusion is also that it is a loose clamp on the spring closest to the exhaust. I have inserted a thin piece of aluminium strip and will take the car out for a test run tomorrow.( The first dry day here for weeks - hopefully!)
Steve
 
Thought I'd resurrect an old thread since the subject was spot on. Last week my BT7 developed a rattle in the rear when driving over a bump. Found the bracket that is welded to the left side of the axle mount that holds the panhard bar had broken free. I remember hitting a speed bump a bit hard earlier and maybe the spring pushed up far enough to break it free. It wasn't held on originally with much weld so I was surprised it lasted 60 years. Not much room to get my head under the wheel arch to reweld it, so kind of had to get the mig in the right area and pull the trigger. Since there was not room for a welding helmet, just close your eyes and hope. Since the panhard rod is not a life and death part, I feel comfortable that the repair is 'good enough'. The 'real ' solution would involve pulling the entire rear axle so I'm crossing my fingers. Sometimes you just do what you have to.
 
Back
Top