Hi guys,
Bought a 2014 GTD about 3 weeks ago from a dealer (Sparshatts Baddesley, Southampton) and heard a rattle ON THE TEST DRIVE. Asked the salesperson about it, and he said it was the cardboard Sales information on the dash. Thought that was a bit weird, questioned it a bit more, and was assured it would be looked at before I returned to pick up the car.
Returned to pick up the car and, surprisingly, it hadn't been looked at. Again assured it was probably just the cardboard (?) but, should it still be a problem, they'd repair it quickly and all would be well with the world. I know this sounds stupid. Anyway, forked over my £14,000 and.... still rattling. Called the sales person, given a number for their servicing/mechanic guys. Called, and asked to book into a local garage to get it looked at.
In the meantime, I googled the issue and it looked relatively simple (insulate soundaktor, all will be OK)...
My local garage followed the instructions I'd found online, and insulated the soundaktor. Rattle still present. They then deactivated the soundaktor and the noise COMPLETELY vanished (I like the sound of the soundaktor so I'd like to keep it on if possible though). They then checked a load of other likely culprits, which I've repeated ad nauseum -
- drove around holding various parts of the dash, the trim, the pillar, the speakers, the windscreen, mirror housings, sun screens, vents, buttons, clocks.
- replaced the soundaktor with a new unit from VW
Today (again) I've taken the wipers off, re-insulated the (new) soundaktor, checked everything else I could possibly find in the engine bay that MIGHT make a rattling noise, and.... still rattling.
I'm at my wits end.
Today my local garage have called me asking me to get in contact with the servicing department at Sparshatts because they're not returning their calls for payment for the new soundaktor (frustrating) and Sparshatts couldn't get me booked in for them to even look at it until early June. At this stage my local garage is saying it's not the soundaktor but something rattling IN the dash (so it's louder when the soundaktor is vibrating it?), so the dealer are going to have to REMOVE the dash, and start looking/replacing components trying to problem solve. I'm worried they'll break other parts trying to get the dash out and back in again, plus I'll be without (my) car for an unknown amount of time.
At this point I just want to drive my new car, in sport, without my music blasting so as to drown out the awful rattling noise.
To that end, I'm putting a little bounty on this... £50 to the forum member who can diagnose/help me fix this problem.
Here's a video (don't worry, wasn't me filming) of the noise. It's noticable in Drive (as well as Sport) but nowhere near as loud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t58cIy-TmKII'm serious about the £50 btw. I can only give it to one person but I'll be OVERJOYED to hand it over if someone can help me
Thanks in advance,
JP