[SOL111]

Well, it's not the gas struts lol.

Back to the drawing board but it's completely pi$$ing down outside so has scuppered my plans today.

 

[olda47]

Thank´s for keeping us posted!

 

[Mooeeey]

Mine is in with the dealer tomorrow. I gave them all the relevant info from the previous posts. I will update you once I know more.

 

[olda47]

Thank´s for the info! Good luck and keep the fingers crossed........

 

[olda47]

Any news guys?

 

[Mooeeey]

Might have some good news soon. Watch this space!!

 

[olda47]

........can´t wait.....

 

[olda47]

.....common, what´s holding you up?

 

[Mooeeey]

I want to say it's fixed, but I haven't had a chance to drive the car properly due to work. I'm going to give it a proper long test drive over the weekend and report back.

 

[SOL111]

Come on. The suspense is killing me. You should have been out driving all night and reporting back lol.

Seriously though I believe I may have found the problem and don't think it's hinge or welding related. It'd be interesting if BMW found something similar with yours.

I mentioned a few pages back that the rear bumper was ticking due to the paint on paint tackiness. Anyway, I was under the car (like you do!) as my MPE was never quite mounted straight by the dealer. As I was having a look round I leant against the driver side rear bumper and 'tick'. A bit more wiggling resulted in more ticking so soon got sidetracked lol.

Long and short is I had the bumper off and applied some silicone grease on the areas that were ticking. I can confirm that this has made things worse so feel I'm on the right track. It seems to be related to the rear air vent which attaches to the bodywork and to which the bumper is clipped and screwed on. I'm now going to degrease the areas and reassemble. Hopefully I'll be able to report back something positive!

 

[SOL111]

I want to say it's fixed, but I haven't had a chance to drive the car properly due to work. I'm going to give it a proper long test drive over the weekend and report back.

Did they say what the issue was and the cause of the ticking?

 

[olda47]

I want to say it's fixed, but I haven't had a chance to drive the car properly due to work. I'm going to give it a proper long test drive over the weekend and report back.

OK. We give you another day or two, but then you must give us a whole story.......

 

[Mooeeey]

I've had the car back for a few days now. I haven't had a chance to put a decent amount of miles on it yet, but so far no rattle.

So what did the dealer do?

After months of asking them to inspect the welds and panels on or near the C pillar they eventually decided they had eliminated virtually all the alternatives.

So they stripped the trim and roof lining around the C pillar, checked the welds and rivets (didn't know it was riveted). Rivets and weld were fine, however there was one panel which had a very small gap and had a small amount of play in it. They then filled the gap with some kind of filler and also any other areas between panels in that area. I am waiting for them to come back to me with the precise location so I can pass it on to you all.

So I am reasonably confident that after 6 months it's finally fixed.

As I mentioned before I need to put some more miles on it. Either way I will report back once I have and also with the exact location of the fix. But from what I understand it's the roof, not the C pillar. I will get clarification as soon as possible.

Thank you all for your help and comments.

 

[olda47]

Thank´s. Hope, the filler will do the job. But I can understand why they didn´t want to weld in that area, as it is a ***** of a job. Don´t understand why the censor wouldn´t let the word ***** through. ***** is a female dog. What the hell is wrong with this world?

 

[olda47]

What´s the latest, guys?

 

[SOL111]

Thanks for the update. I've a feeling it may be a different problem to mine then but will wait for an exact location.

I've been in the roof area with an inspection camera and couldn't find anything but could have missed it so any info would be great.

Trouble is, I made the problem worse by messing around with the bumper and have toned it down now but it's still not quite gone. In my case there's a definite rebound effect so am not sure it's a roof panel for me as none of the panels are 'that' loose.

I'll keep investigating.

 

[Mooeeey]

Still no noises! Not only has the dreaded rattle gone, there's also no squeaks or creaks which were present before.

Waiting to speak with the Tech who was on my case for a debrief. Will update soon.

 

[SOL111]

Sounds like heaven lol. Good for you and hope it stays that way.

There's nothing worse than falling out with your car and I've been trying hard not to call the dealer to get it px'd for a 240i or something

 

[olda47]

Still no noises! Not only has the dreaded rattle gone, there's also no squeaks or creaks which were present before.

Waiting to speak with the Tech who was on my case for a debrief. Will update soon.

That´s an excellent news! Good to know, that the simple application of resin to the problem area can stop the abnormal noise. No welding required. Looks like there´s a new material, which wasn´t available in my days... (However, I still think, that the movement of panels against each other, which initially created the noise, is not desirable and can in longer term lead to a spot weld breakage. Can´t imagine any resin, which could cope with the forces created by a car body flexing ). Then again, the rattle has been fixed and it´s time to celebrate. :band:

 

[Mooeeey]

This is what the tech has said...

The noise was from the drivers side tailgate hinge area. I did not need to drill the body, I filled the gap between the body panels with cavity wax, and pressed the panels together so that the wax filled the gaps. I also did the same on the passenger side hinge area, so that the risk of that side having the same issue was reduced

So far 500 miles and nothing. I'm pretty confident it's done the trick!