Futureicon

Ok all you folks with the mysterious underhood rattle. If you have it, you know exactly the one I'm speaking of. It follows these symptoms:

1. Only rattles at stops
2. Only when the car is in drive
3.Only in cold weather (the colder the louder)

Ok, so I've got the fix! No its not bump stops under the hood and no its not your intake. Its your fuel line, where it enters the firewall. The vibration of the engine in cold weather causes the fuel line to rattle against the firewall. I cant take credit for finding this, you can thank Scionmikey04 (or rather his tech at the dealership). He found the fix and shared it with me in the following e-mail.

Futureicon
As you may remember I had the same identical symptom's on my Xb.Also in my post I stated I was taking it in on Monday Feb 7.When I got to dealer on Monday morning service advisor had a tech ride with me to try and replicate the sound which we were able to do.Tech stated he had never heard a rattle like this before,go figure.So about 3:00 p.m. service advisor call's me say's it's fixed that they traced it to the cold air intake.I have the long ram AEM CAI.I told him to double check it by driving it himself.He said he would, at 5:30 p.m. he called me back stating the noise is still there.He apologized and said they would need it for another day and go back to the drawing board and have another tech look at it.He called me about 10:30 on Tuesday and stated they got it fixed,he drove it noise is gone.I was unable to pick it up that day because I was on the way to work.So I drove up there Wednesday morning to pick it up at 7:00 a.m. Service advisor pulled up vehicle to let it warm up,he asked me to drive it around and then come back and let him know what I thought.The noise is now completely gone. Here is what he stated problem was the fuel line which comes out of the firewall toward the top back of the engine was rubbing on the strut tie bar brace causing it to reverberate through the firewall.The fix is they insulated the inner fender liner and now the noise is completely gone.I wish he would of showed me exactly what they did so I could explain it a little better.If you need any more info let me know I will try to explain it better.
ScionMikey04

So today I took my box in (luckily it was good and loud) and I printed off the above message from Mikey. Turns out the diagnosis was right on. The noise is gone! Smooth sailing after a year of noise. Now go forth and rectify (your rattle problems) -Sam

PandaIst

oh shoot...I have that rattle problem too. I should bring my xA to the dealership to get it fixed. Was this service covered by warranty or did you have to pay. So it can be fixed same day car is brought in?

HammerHead

I had mine in to the dealer today for an oil change and to look for this noise. Well, I got my oil changed and I still have that damn noise. Now that I have a general idea, I'll have to look for it tomorrow when I install my cruise control. Thanks for the info.

HammerHead

[quote="Futureicon"] Here is what he stated problem was the fuel line which comes out of the firewall toward the top back of the engine was rubbing on the strut tie bar brace causing it to reverberate through the firewall.The fix is they insulated the inner fender liner and now the noise is completely gone.I wish he would of showed me exactly what they did so I could explain it a little better.If you need any more info let me know I will try to explain it better.
ScionMikey04

Well, I just re-read the post and I had my noise before I installed my strut tower brace, so I don't thing this is going to be my problem. But I will still look at the fuel line. Thanks again for the info.

Futureicon

Totally covered by warranty.

mattxb

off to the dealer.
Thanks

CBSIMONSEZ

Good find, ill have to try and look for this once the weather warms up.

mattxb

Alright, this was not the case with mine. Just for informative purposes.....
My rattle was coming from the clamp on the radiator hose. The part you squeeze to detach was facing upward. Metal on metal vibration. Gave it a 180 degree turn and I am all set. Its crazy how it can be something so simple. The service manager at my dealership said a couple people were complaing of the same thing so I actually went down there and showed one of the techs by putting it back, letting him listen then rotating to show him the world of difference. Hopefully the others go back to complain again so they can get this fixed.

flames9

I had an engine rattle as well. Only rattled when stopped and transmission ws in drive. put it in park, rattle went away. Took it to the dealership today--along with a list of other XB owners problems--- Turns out the hood wwasnt level!! There are 2 "levelers" 1 on each side of front hood. Al lthey had to do was adjust 1 of them!! problem fixed!!