Strange Rattle/Wind Noise from passenger side around/behind glove box???

[BrianV]

I swear, once I get one little sound fixed, another pops up. This one is the strangest to date. I get this rattle noise that also sounds like wind noise which starts developing around 40mph and increases in volume as speed rises until about 60-70mph where road and real wind noise then drowns it out some.

The road surface doesn't seem to play a role in this sound, so I believe it to be possible a tiny wind noise leak. After months, I finally had my wife drive so I could check it out as from the driver's position, there was nothing I could reach and press on to make it stop. I also verified it's not mirror noise as I was able to drive the car with the mirrors in their parked position up to 70 mph and the sound didn't change at all.

While my wife was driving, I pressed on every panel, and I could not get the sound to change or go away. If I put my ear directly on the upper dash (where the trim piece is), I could hear it, but it sounded like it was in/behind the glove box. Driving with the glove box open doesn't change the effect so it's nothing in the glove box.

Unlike my AC rattle where rough roads increased the rattle, this sound doesn't seem to increase with road bumps/roughness, it seems to be related to car speed. It's not power train related either. I almost wonder if I have a tiny air leak at the bottom of my wind shied, although that sounds kind of crazy. I reached underneath the glove box and pressed, pulled on things and that didn't help either (nor did putting pressure on the fuse panel door).

Anyone else had this. It's like a scratching/tapping noise with a high and random frequency to it.

[Jprieur]

Try switching the AC between recirculate and fresh intake and see if the noise changes at all, that way you can determine if its HVAC intake related

[RAF_S7]

Had similar issue on my A7. Turned out to be the centre speaker trim panel (on top of dash) had a broken clip which allowed the grill to vibrate at certain speeds or music frequency. Was replaced by the dealer.

[BrianV]

Thanks guys, I'll try both suggestions. The speaker covers could be related, I may remove all three on the dash and drive around for a while. Interestingly and coincidentally, when I was troubleshooting my earlier rattle (which turned out to be an AC vent), I took all of those speaker covers off. Interestingly, once I got my AC vent replaced, it seems this new sound just started. I did manually pull out those little vent guards and that wasn't it, but I didn't try the speaker cover. I do feel it's definitely closer to the door so passenger side tweeter cover could be it.

I'm out of town for a few days without the car, so I'll have to test this closer to the end of the year, but I'll keep everyone posted.

[BrianV]

Removal of the tweeter grill didn't help. I also jammed silk cloths between the dash and the windshield and between the dash and the A-pillar and absolutely no change in noise. I just removed the passenger side fuse panel, and I'll see if that helps on the next drive.

Having just sorted out a similar rattle on my wife's car by putting felt tape between the dash and A-pillar, I'm more convinced this has some wind component to it. On my wife's car, the noise was apparent during rough rodes, bumps, washboard, etc. In this car, it seems more speed sensitive. It's like this tapping scratchy noise, and it's inconsistent in it's repetition. It constantly repeats, but it's not on a consistent beat, it sort of just keeps going on at random lengthy, intervals, etc. It's also not a whistler, but a tapping rattle like sound, but as stated, it seems to happen on buttery smooth roads and is variable with speed, starting at around 30-40 mph and it just continues on forever.

I might try taping the passenger side door, window and windshield on that side of the car down. That would confirm or rule out wind noise.

I tried to film it, and interestingly it sounds completely different on playback. My iPhone speaker catches it as a clear air hissing noise, but I assure you it is more of a scratchy rattle noise, but the consistency of it going on/off is like in the video where it just goes in little burst intervals. I described that condition in the video comments.

https://youtu.be/h1NdxaeHSjw

[537playing]

Could it be possibly be a leaf fluttering from the pre filter to the fan housing?

[BrianV]

Could it be possibly be a leaf fluttering from the pre filter to the fan housing?

Very possible. I do have leaves. Where do I check for that? Is this pre filter for HVAC or primary intake?

Also, taping the window, mirro and door didn't help, nor did removing the fuse panel.

The sound is like a random older hard drive ticking, crunching noise it makes when writing.

[BrianV]

I read and know what you mean about the pre-filter, I doubt that's it, but I'll remove that shroud and clean it out tomorrow. I did find a couple maple leaves in the corner under the hood, perhaps it's fluttering in the wind once certain speed is reached. There were only two leaves in there, but I removed them. We shall see next time I drive it!