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Strange noises inside dash/engine bay caused by wind?

Nice I’ll check that too. Service advisor called me and said the battery connector was loose 🤷🏼‍♂️ But they tightened it and the noise is gone supposedly. Going to pick it up now.
Noise is definitely gone from what they did. Drove on the interstate over 80 and no vibration at all. Strange but I’m not complaining.
 



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Noise is definitely gone from what they did. Drove on the interstate over 80 and no vibration at all. Strange but I’m not complaining.

That is interesting, a loose battery connector. Do you know if it was the actual terminal on the main battery?
 






That is interesting, a loose battery connector. Do you know if it was the actual terminal on the main battery?
I believe so yes.
 






I still have not taken my 2020 to the dealer for this issue.

I heard it again today and came up with a new description. There's a gerbil running on a wheel in the dash underneath the instrument cluster.

On a serious note, this trouble will likely go undetected by anyone that is listening to music. Radio needs to be off to detect this noise (in general). This could be a reason why everyone has not detected it yet.
 






Does the noise increase with the speed of the vehicle? If it does and it sounds like it's coming from the dash then it could possibly be the cowl vibrating.

Peter
 






My 2020 Limited has begun making a clicking noise at speed (55+) from the driver's side dash. It sounds just like a Geiger counter and it is definitely related to wind in some way. Strong crosswinds will make it louder and more prevalent. It is completely unaffected by the climate system status (on, off, fan speed). I've tried taping off sections around the windshield but no joy. Any ideas gang?
 






I chased that sound for a day or two.
My issue may not be yours but...
My engine bonnet doesn't have an insulating blanket, and as a result the windshield washer lines would rattle at speed as they were just hanging loose. I secured them to the underside of the hood with black hockey tape. No more noise at speed.
It ain't pretty, and people laugh at my new Ford Explorer when I open the hood.
Luckily the shame is all Ford's, and not mine.
 






I willing to take a look at that.
 






I chased that sound for a day or two.
My issue may not be yours but...
My engine bonnet doesn't have an insulating blanket, and as a result the windshield washer lines would rattle at speed as they were just hanging loose. I secured them to the underside of the hood with black hockey tape. No more noise at speed.
It ain't pretty, and people laugh at my new Ford Explorer when I open the hood.
Luckily the shame is all Ford's, and not mine.
Assuming it can be added after the fact, it isn't that expensive to add the hood insulation pad and clips if you wanted to do that.

Peter
 






My Ex has the hood insulation pad and the washer lines are well-secured. I'd swear the sound was a fan wobbling or HVAC door something like that, except that there absolutely no effect from turning the climate system on/off, temp changes, fresh/recirc, etc.
 






So I MAY have fixed my clicking issue. Once again it seems that an undercarriage cover is the culprit, except this time it is on the opposite side right under the driver's side dash. The connection has worked lose, and the metal(?!) washer rattles when the wind vibrates the undercarriage. I tried my best to tighten it down, but the bolt would not budge. In lieu in placed a stack of sticky felt spacers between the cover and the body to create tension and stop the rattle. Tested on a 20 min drive up to 80 mph and no noise. Fingers crossed. Will have to come up with something more permanent eventually though.
 






200 mile trip at interstate speeds and no rattling. I'll take it.
 






Any pictures of what you did? I don't have this issue but it might help others.
 






I know and understand that the noise reported on this thread might be or is different than what I am going to explain here. There was a weird metallic or something that sounded metallic (like for example 2 metal handle snow scrapers hitting each other OR 2 wrench touching each other very gently). This rattle (very faint but can be heard without the radio on) would only occur on a very specific type of road. The road has to be eroded, then there should have been potholes but which has been filled unevenly, like there are NO holes but the filling is lumpy above the road level and lots of them.

So I decided I will use today since it is my off, to start driving early morning and figure this out. I did Not want to report this to the dealer and having them ripping my car apart in places that it does Not need to (yeah I am touchy with my vehicles).

So with this mission of finding those kind of roads, which I know existed on I-25, I started driving early in the morning. Ran the SR over all those areas, but not able to get the exact replication so continued driving. After about 140+ miles of driving, finally got to as stretch where I was able to replicate it. Pulled over at a scenic view point less than a mile away, opened all the doors and started tapping, hitting, shaking everything inside the car but NO MATCH with what I was hearing while driving.

Continued driving, took the next exist, came back to the same patch and same sound, pulled over again and started banging at everything. Finally, I think, just think might have found the culprit. The Center Console hand rest!!!. Everytime I hit that, it made a half metallic noise. So I was almost certain that those corroded/eroded roads were causing vibrations for it to rattle in those conditions.

So I drove back and forth with my hand on the arm rest, keeping it open on occasions etc. and I could Not replicate the exact noise so I drove back all the way home and could Not hear it until now. It took me about 300 miles and the associated gas money but I think, just think and hope that I might have identified my rattle. Not sure yet, requires more testing but I hope I did, will keep you all posted.

And after all the banging, opening closing it a zillion times, the center console does not even make that metallic rattle anymore, it is more of a plasticy noise now. So fingers crossed.
 






I chased that sound for a day or two.
My issue may not be yours but...
My engine bonnet doesn't have an insulating blanket, and as a result the windshield washer lines would rattle at speed as they were just hanging loose. I secured them to the underside of the hood with black hockey tape. No more noise at speed.
It ain't pretty, and people laugh at my new Ford Explorer when I open the hood.
Luckily the shame is all Ford's, and not mine.

I am going to try this potential fix using Gorilla tape to press the loose washer fluid tubing against the hood surface.

I popped my hood and see the plastic washer fluid tubing clipped to the hood using plastic clips. I can just flick the loose tubing with my fingers and the sound it makes could very well be the hamster wheel sound I'm hearing from "behind my instrument cluster".

The plastic clips that hold the tubing to the hood fit in their hood holes very loosely and could create a rattle of their own, along with a rattling of the plastic tubing itself vibrating off the hood itself at higher speeds.

Thanks for the tip. I'll report back after I tape the tubing to the hood and take it on my next ride down the interstate.

My rattling occurs often and can most often be heard at constant interstate/thruway speed, with radio off.
 






So I MAY have fixed my clicking issue. Once again it seems that an undercarriage cover is the culprit, except this time it is on the opposite side right under the driver's side dash. The connection has worked lose, and the metal(?!) washer rattles when the wind vibrates the undercarriage. I tried my best to tighten it down, but the bolt would not budge. In lieu in placed a stack of sticky felt spacers between the cover and the body to create tension and stop the rattle. Tested on a 20 min drive up to 80 mph and no noise. Fingers crossed. Will have to come up with something more permanent eventually though.
scottfmc, can provide a picture of the loose metal washer area and/or describe the location in more detail?
 






scottfmc, can provide a picture of the loose metal washer area and/or describe the location in more detail?
These pictures are not good, but it was the best I could get. The first shows the general area where the undercarriage cover is bolted to the body. This is just behind the front driver's side wheel. You can see the charcoal-covered felt-like material and the grey bolt that I could not tighten down any more. The washer behind it is the culprit. The second picture is blurry (sorry) as I could not get any better with my cell phone. The two felt sticky pads are the tan mass placed between the body and the undercarriage cover to immobilize the cover so that it would not move/rattle. The "fix" survived a 400 mile trip and rain. Since those are just furniture foot-pads, I will need to replace them at some point with something made of automotive rubber, but I no longer doubt the fix.

thumbnail_IMG_1536.jpg


thumbnail_IMG_1538.jpg
 






I still have not taken my 2020 to the dealer for this issue.

I heard it again today and came up with a new description. There's a gerbil running on a wheel in the dash underneath the instrument cluster.

On a serious note, this trouble will likely go undetected by anyone that is listening to music. Radio needs to be off to detect this noise (in general). This could be a reason why everyone has not detected it yet.
P. Falcon's solution earlier on this thread worked for me. The undercarriage under the driver's side is some of the felt covering that Ford seemed to love putting all around this vehicle. One of the bolts were loose so I tightened it. Somehow it fixed the paper rustling problem for me.
 









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The next time it happens for me, I'm going to turn the temperature control panel off to see if that does anything. This thread gave me the idea,

Confirmed clicking is still there after turning HVAC off.
 






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