Aggravating rattle (Solved)
 

I have been chasing this rattle for months. I narrowed it down to the rear end. It’s either the tailgate or the hatch. Oddly enough, I found one of the 3 bolts that hold the hatch lock not tightened. It also didn’t have the inspector paint on it. Must have been the Friday afternoon close to quitting time crew.
Anyone got an idea of something that I’m missing? I have taken all the trim off the upper hatch. And the tailgate inspection panel has been removed and looked at.
It was the upper hatch out of adjustment. Took a lot of trial and error to get it solved. I found about 7 other loose items that I thought for sure were the culprit. Ow the X5 is very quiet and rattle free.

Make sure the two rubber stoppers are backed out enough to be tight. You can back them out until the hatch sticks out proud a couple mm to make sure you got them out enough then turn them in until its flush.

The door is a spring. The hatch must pull the motor middle in a little or the hatch can shake.

Also sit in the trunk with other driver. You can push out on the hatch left then right to see if the rattle stops.


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There are different stoppers too. Later ones have a spring action in them to help keep the lid from slamming. Nice design, but they can fail by shooting the spring out the bottom and into the trunk.

I replaced my stoppers several years ago with the newer ones as the rubber bits on my OE stoppers were shot. One failed pretty quickly thereafter, but FCP supplied a new one. It’s definitely a better design as they allow for a softer close yet keep more pressure on the hatch lid, and have helped keep the rattles down. Not completely though.

I have used the dollar bill on checking the rubber bumpers. They are right on. Also I have ridden in the cargo area. I cannot find or duplicate the rattle. I’m going to really look at the hatch lock today. It works perfectly. It does sound different than my other X5. I have a red 4.6 and a blue 3.0 stick.

It might need a lot more forced than the dollar bill test. it’s meant to bend the door slightly as a spring so you can deal with bumps and not come off the latch. I will get it to where it just passes the dollar bill test and then maybe bring another half a turn out each or something like that.

Aggravating rattle
 

One of the mystery rattles I fixed on a three series BMW was a loose shock mount. I don’t remember how the x shock works in the back.

Not tbe tailgate
 

After completely rebuilding the hatch and tailgate. I cannot find be assured it’s not those. I opened up and regressed the wiper motor and the door lock.
The mechanism now works better and is quieter.
I dug deeper and it seems to be something on the bottom .
The rear shocks ( not airbags) are factory fresh. That means 22 years and
140K miles. No leaks or drips. They look fine. Can a shock fail without leaking oil?

The end can get loose and have slack. Makes a rattle/tap. Sounds a lot like loose hatch latch.

I've got a rattle in the rear of the car sound of tin...it just came out of no where...a little over a year now . Car drives fine. The rattle comes and goes. I need to get serious about it. Seems like when I increase acceleration the rattle also increases in sound.
I've got to have a friend drive past me while I stand on the side walk home in on the location of the rattle.

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Aggravating rattle
 

Drive along a brick/ concrete wall with windows open also can help.

When it happened to me it was one time rust between rear rotor and rock guard. Second time it was a stone between rock guard and front rotor. That one only happened in certain turns.

I have a subway and I will ride alongside somebody doing a big circle in a parking lot to find Corner sounds like bad bearing. You could use a bicycle to do the same. It’s better than just standing as the car drives past.