Dash Squeak

Yeah I had the chimp with the beer haha. I log on about every other month there just to check classifieds or see the threads.

 

Did you ever get to work on the dash squeak? I was messing around with it and becoming more convinced it's not the dash rubbing the windshield, at least on mine. I believe it's that vent tube under the dash. I'm going to pull the radio this weekend and see if I can stop this.

 

Good call. Its a bracket under there that needs some back tension put on it. Take some pics. I may do mine even though its not making a noise.

 

"But yes, remove the instrument panel, remove the radio and you'll see the ducting that looks like a 'Y' and supplies the air to the center vents. Just pop that out and more than likely you'll notice all the wear marks on the plastic vent. Throw some felt on that and it will help."


Radio is out. I believe this must be the metal brace he's referring to but that's not the source of my noise. I also don't see how he "popped" out that vent. You would have to remove the entire dash.







My noise is originating back there somewhere.

 

You’ve got a beer monkey too? This one is now older, adolescences I guess, and I don’t know if I would trust him that close to my ear again.

 

Use your short little arm and push with your hand whilst at the same time observing from the radio hole.

Wedge some foam (or something) in the general location to create back pressure. Start experimenting. Watch out you don’t make airbag go boom!

 

Reminds me of St. Barts!

Ohhmmmm....Ohhhmmmm...

Hahahaha

 

Found 2 little hooks that hold the vent in place. You can pop it off those hooks but still can't remove it.

 

You might not need to risk breaking that vent. Just try to push and recreate the noise again from topside like you did in your video. Look/listen in hole for the spot to attack with foam/deadener.

 

I think I have found a partial solution. The source of the noise for me isn't the U shaped tube for the middle vents. There is a black vent that runs the length of the dash and supplies air to the windshield for defrost. It's held in place by a series of tabs that are part of the dash. The noise is the dash rubbing that vent each time I hit a bump.

Your success in fixing this depends on the location. Unfortunately for me, it's coming from the area behind the passenger airbag. My only option was to pry that vent loose as far back as I could. I used a really long flathead screwdriver. When I push on the dash now, it still makes some noise but it's not nearly as bad as it was before. I would have to completely remove the dash to get the rest of it.

Here are the pictures of that vent and the tabs that hold it in place. They are about 8" apart, along the dash. So my "fix" was to pull that down so it's not making as much contact. There's no way to get enough room to put felt there.



I did see what the guy on Tundra Solutions was saying so I put some Noico there to be safe.

 

I made the Lowe's run and will go out in the morning to work on the dash and will report back. My camera install was giving me fits so I gently drove the truck under the pole barn and left it there...

 

Whats this wire and where does it go? Maybe the noise culprit wedged in between dash?

 

That's the wire for my Bluetooth mic but it's definitely not the source. The dash noise has been like this since I bought the truck in 2016, long before that wire was there. And it just drops through a defrost hole, it's not pinched. Good guess though.

 

I thought I followed up on this, sorry...
The radio will probably get the signal thru the video cable - most displays do this now (though the mirror I bought doesn't). It should cover this in the e-manual for the head unit...

 

Drove the truck 4 hours today. Some off pavement. Big potholes. I'm amazed to say the dash didn't make any noise. Now if I can fix this squeaky brake pedal I'm set!

 

So what did you end up doing to stop the squeak? I've had that squeak for years.

 

Scroll up and I explained it.

 

I'll give a whirl, thanks for the info.

 

I installed the 1/2" this afternoon; rode around a bit and had no rattles. Usually I hear it when going down my gravel driveway but all was quiet today. I'll follow up over the next couple of weeks...


It really tucks away nicely.

 

What size backer rod did you use? I traced mine to the entire length of the dash. I thought it was back of the airbag door/cap, but going down the gravel road at work I realized it was the whole front of my dash so now I’m thinking that backer rod is the solution.

 

I used 1/2" and in a couple of spots it was a little tight (like shoving it out of the way of the VIN window) getting it out of sight. But in some areas the 5/8" would have been nice. I used a panel tool to tuck it down. And if I did it again I'd probably pull the pillar plastic and tuck the end behind it when getting started; it may allow you to pull it back out if you ever needed to.

EDIT -
The 5/8" is a darker gray; it would probably be a better option for your darker interior. I have the lighter gray interior and the 1/2" is a better match to mine.
All said you can't see it so it doesn't really matter. But in case there's a raised area...

 

That’s a big help, thank you!

 

So you pushed it down out of sight? I thought it was disappear down there but I guess not. Glad it worked.

 

This is in your future @FirstGenVol

 

It's out of sight though if you're looking for it you can see it in one spot. I'll take a few pictures this afternoon / evening. It rips fairly easily so you can't stand on it when tucking it away...

 

It's interesting that there are different fixes for the same problem. I didn't think putting anything near the windshield would work but I'm glad it did for you. There must be a few different places the dash can make noise.

 

Here to confirm my rattle is gone. The backer rod seems to have done the trick for my truck...

 

I ended up jamming a little foam piece just about where the left edge of the airbag line goes if it continued and it fixed me rattle! So much nicer over bumps now