Dashboard/windshield noises...everybody's favorite

[Bobby Hill]

Hello all…as a guy that has owned a handful of Rangers over the years, I assumed that upon purchase of my ’03 Sport early this year that I would be greeted with a host of interior noises/buzzes/rattles as there are many interior similarities between the trucks of my past and my Explorer. My assumption was correct, however using the seek and destroy method I was able to hunt down and fix every single one of them over the course of a few weeks. All except for one, the persistent creaking noise that has been coming from the passenger side of my dashboard for a few months now that I just cannot pin down…I shall refer to it as my “white whale” (think Seinfeld).

I do know very well from my wife’s suggestions that not many people are as hyper-sensitive to these interior noises as I am, but that doesn’t discourage my hope that there may be a few others like me that frequent this forum.

The sound itself seems to originate from where the passenger side of the dashboard meets up with the windshield. It’s not a rattle at all, rather a plastic on plastic/rubber sort of creaking sound that happens over even the tiniest bumps, braking, accelerating, and especially when going over uneven surfaces like going over the curb while turning into my driveway. It’s not super loud (difficult to hear at highway speeds, aka you really have to listen for it to hear it) but at slow speeds it’s definitely noticeable, and at least to me it’s very annoying. I feel like I’m driving an old, old wooden ship (think Ron Burgundy).

The dashboard itself seems tight, when I push down on the defrost cover and the dashboard in the area it makes no change in the sound. My guess is it’s maybe the seal between the dash/firewall, or somehow possibly the windshield. The truck has never been in an accident and to my knowledge the windshield is original.

Curious if anybody has had a similar experience and if they were able to track down the noise or if anybody has any suggestions I can try in an effort to diagnose. If you believe that maybe I’m delusional and I should stop asking such dumb questions and pretending that a ten year old Ford should be as quiet as a new car (my 96 F150 is!), well then feel free to let me know that as well.


Thanks,

Brian.

 

[Bobby Hill]

So last night I was looking into this once again and was able to isolate the sound to the very corner of the passenger side of the dash/windshield area. I was rocking the truck back and forth and able to hear the sound, which has been getting progressively worse.

Interesting note...I went outside the truck and gave the corner of the windshield a thump with the palm of my hand to see if I could replicate the rattle outside the cab, and that ******* splintered and cracked into a billion little fractured pieces, extending from the corner all the way up to the very top near the roof. Now that, I was not expecting.

The glass is original, and has had 9 years of Florida sun just beating the snot out of it...I'm thinking maybe there was a fracture or stress crack somewhere in that corner, maybe under the trim, that was causing the creak. Or maybe the glass was weathered and weak from all that sun...I'm not sure if this happens to glass though. And when I gave it a thump, it just all let loose. Now it's REALLY making noise!

I'm calling a local auto glass company today, hopefully they can come out tomorrow and get it replaced and hopefully this also cures the noise.


Always something,

Brian.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

I'm the same way with mysterious noises, I hate them, gotta find what's making them and stop it. If you can while they have the windshield out mess with the dash, cowl and fender to see if its any of those, maybe something worked its way loose over the years. There's a lot of parts that meet up right there and tightly fit together. Good luck, hopefully the new windshield fixes it.

 

[Bobby Hill]

Thanks for the suggestions...you know exactly how I feel. In fairness the interior in this Explorer was much tighter than I thought it would be when I bought it. I had a few spots in the cargo area and around the rear speakers and rear seltbelts that I had to stuff to eliminate rattles, and I went felt-crazy on the underside of the center console and the interior was suddently amazingly noise free...probably why I noticed this dashboard thing so much.

I'll update this thread after the windshield replacement (next Wednesday) with results.

 

[wood1]

I'd ask your glass guy to have a look at it while he's got the windshield out.

 

[Bobby Hill]

I had the windshield replaced yesterday. When I drove off after the install, I noticed that the creak was still there the same as it was before. On a side note, holy bananas new glass sure is nice….so clear and even associated things like wipers seem to work so much better.

When I got home, I decided to do a little further investigating as I have now determined that the sound is not caused by the windshield. I remove the a-pillar trim and took the defrost vent cover off and did a little poking/prodding. Nothing made a difference and nothing looked out of sorts. After messing around for about an hour, I decided that at this point it’s just something I’m going to have to live with. Before I buttoned everything up, as a last ditch effort I decide to spray down anything that I thought might be a suspect with WD-40. And by spray down, I mean soak the living sh@t out of. Luckily for me, the noise is gone but my truck now smells like a chemical factory which at least I can enjoy in silence. Hopefully the WD-40 “fix” works for awhile but I feel like it’s more than likely very temporary.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Glad to hear man, don't light up in your truck now if ya smoke. Lol.