Rattling Back Seat?

2CV67 · Nov 8, 2013

Obviously the Cali, with all its equipment, has great potential for rattling & squeaking!

We quickly fixed the prime culprits:
- by learning to push the sliding table towards the fridge before clipping it back.
- by winding the awning in tight.
- by keeping beer & wine bottles & jam jars in cut-down plastic water bottles to avoid glass-to-glass contact.
- by using anti-skid mats on the shelves.
- by fitting carpet-tiles in the cupboards.

We also found little rattles from:
- the loose handles on the awning crank (padded with bubble-wrap).
- the adjustable foot of the table in the sliding door (screw up tight or add bit of rubber tube).

But now we are left with one significant rattle, which seems to come from the bench seat near the sliding door (or the sliding door next to the bench seat?).
I suspect this may be coming from the mechanism for clamping/releasing the seat, but am not sure.
I removed the big drawer, expecting to be able to reach the mechanism, but couldn't.
So now the question is - how to get at that mechanism?
Can I just pull off the plastic cover at the side of the seat & if so - how?
Or what else?

All suggestions welcome, on this & other noise issues!

owen_h · Nov 8, 2013

Mine has been into my local dealers 3 times looking for this one :headbang

Last time they replaced the entire seat base which has improved but not cured the problem. For me its quite a metallic crash when on rough roads or potholes. Is yours the same? If I slide the seat forward it happens less, probably because the rattly mechanism is further away from the rear axel.
Removing the plastic cover wont give you access to the mechanism, behind is just a flat metal plate. The plastic is fixed with a variety of push in plugs, clips & velcro (the velcro might have been added by the dealer when they changed the base). Unless you think that the plastic itself might be part of your rattle Its not worth trying to remove it. On mine the rattle seems to be on the side furthest away from the sliding door anyway so don't think its the plastic trim.
I suspect the only way to get at the mechanism is to remove the seat completely from the van. That's a 2 man job by all accounts.
Worth checking the release levers for the seat and drawer as well, they can be a source of rattles. Mine has a bit of of felt tape where they touch the trim. Not sure if that's standard or not.
If you do find a solution let me know.
Owen

2CV67 · Nov 10, 2013

owen_h said:
For me its quite a metallic crash when on rough roads or potholes. Is yours the same?

No - mine is a light but persistant tapping on ordinary knobbly roads.
Could easily imagine it was an unsecured cable versus a steel plate.

I wonder if you can get at the workings by tipping the whole bench back, without removing it from the van?

Custardtart · Nov 10, 2013

Good luck with this.

I had a similar ting-ting type rattle from the front passenger seat. To start with it was intermittent but it gradually got worse.

It must have gone into the dealers about half a dozen times in all. They changed the rotator and the seat back mechanism but without success.

It's now fixed - not sure exactly what was done but suspect padding between any components that look like they might rattle together.

I was happier for them to do it as they can replace any fittings, plastic lugs, trim etc that gets broken as you try to get access to the insides of the seat.

owen_h · Dec 7, 2013

2CV67 said:
owen_h said:

For me its quite a metallic crash when on rough roads or potholes. Is yours the same?

Click to expand...

No - mine is a light but persistant tapping on ordinary knobbly roads.
Could easily imagine it was an unsecured cable versus a steel plate.

I wonder if you can get at the workings by tipping the whole bench back, without removing it from the van?

Hi 2CV67,
yes you can get at the workings by tipping the seat back, I've just done it. :thumb

Once tipped back the inner workings are behind a metal plate. This is secured by a load of Torx bolts. I was initially worried that they actually held some of the mechanism but they dont, just the blanking plate. There is one bolt alongside the seat belt winder so that also needs to be undone to gain access.
This is what you get to see once the plate is removed:
[album]1230[/album]

The two sliders or shoes are pretty much self contained units and can be removed by unhooking the linking arms (prize off a captive washer) & undoing 3 large bolts (16 & 17mm socket set needed). These are the units in situ:
[album]1231[/album][album]1232[/album]
(note the bit of carpet to save damaging the floor rail).
For me I think the rattle is at the back of these units where the shoe slides up and down. There is a nylon channel to stop the sides rattling but at the back there is also a pin and slot that results on a metal on metal rattle. I've packed the area with some grease and fingers crossed seem to have improved it (based on a short journey round a bumpy circuit).
Your rattle sounds like it could be one of the linking arms however.
Good luck in tracking it down, hope the description and the pics help.

Wojtek Boden · Dec 13, 2013

Its worth taking a look inside the toolbox attached to the back of the rear bench seat. When I opened mine up recently I noticed a loose item which was causing metal-on-metal "chinking".
However, despite padding the offending item, I've still got other rattles and squeaks. The strange thing is that the noise seems to migrate depending on whether I'm in the driving seat, in the front passenger seat or in the rear! After 7 years of trying to chase down the rattles and squeaks, I'm starting not to notice them.

owen_h · Dec 13, 2013

In my case I'm 100% certain it wasn't the toolbox behind the seat as a Beach doesn't have it (the toolbox). Ours is behind the LHS rear wheel. I eliminated that as a potential source of rattles by taking everything out one day and then going for a drive.
So far my seat mods appear to have greatly improved the situation (but still keeping fingers crossed).

dynamicstall · Dec 6, 2014

My new Cali had the light tapping noise from under the rear seat....left side. It was the seat release link tapping on the steel case of the seat base unit. The right side has a fraction more clearance on mine but if you roll the left one with yor finger you can replicate the noise as the rod touches the sheet steel. Fix is dead simple but a fiddle. Take a 100mm approx length of plastic or rubber tube like busen burner tube size and cut along its length in a helix. Push through the small access hole in the inner aspect under the seat and feed on to the rod. The rod is now padded. The tube won't fall off as due to the helix it is wound around the rod. Job done. Now for the sliding door rattle!

Phil b · Jun 30, 2021

dynamicstall said:
My new Cali had the light tapping noise from under the rear seat....left side. It was the seat release link tapping on the steel case of the seat base unit. The right side has a fraction more clearance on mine but if you roll the left one with yor finger you can replicate the noise as the rod touches the sheet steel. Fix is dead simple but a fiddle. Take a 100mm approx length of plastic or rubber tube like busen burner tube size and cut along its length in a helix. Push through the small access hole in the inner aspect under the seat and feed on to the rod. The rod is now padded. The tube won't fall off as due to the helix it is wound around the rod. Job done. Now for the sliding door rattle!

Hi I have the exact same noise from my chair which is driving me insane trying to fix it, is there any chance you could put some photos of how exactly to stopped it.
Thanks

zerofour · Oct 25, 2021

Phil b said:
Hi I have the exact same noise from my chair which is driving me insane trying to fix it, is there any chance you could put some photos of how exactly to stopped it.
Thanks

Had the rattle for nigh on 4 years and this fix finally sorted it!

dynamicstall said:
My new Cali had the light tapping noise from under the rear seat....left side. It was the seat release link tapping on the steel case of the seat base unit. The right side has a fraction more clearance on mine but if you roll the left one with yor finger you can replicate the noise as the rod touches the sheet steel. Fix is dead simple but a fiddle. Take a 100mm approx length of plastic or rubber tube like busen burner tube size and cut along its length in a helix. Push through the small access hole in the inner aspect under the seat and feed on to the rod. The rod is now padded. The tube won't fall off as due to the helix it is wound around the rod. Job done. Now for the sliding door rattle!

thanks for the fix, it worked for me too.