EX35 Interior "Creaking" & "Crackling/Tapping" Noises

[RobertN]

Is anyone else experiencing a "creaking" noise coming from the front interior area of their EX35? I am hearing a fairly constant noise when I am coming to a stop, accelerating and going over "smooth" bumps on the highway. I do not notice it as much when hitting sharp bumbs. This noise almost sounds like what you would hear on a boat when the wood is creaking. It is very irritating to hear this fairly constant noise in a brand new vehicle. I am nervous about putting it in for service because once they start tearing apart the dashboard area it never seems to be the same.

At times I am convinced it is from the dash but other times it seems like it is coming from one of the seats!

I am getting pretty frustrated with Infiniti and their "noise" issues. I originally purchased an '08 G37. 4000 miles later it developed this terrible engine noise at idle. 45 days into service and NOBODY at Infiniti able to determine where it was coming from they finally repurchased the vehicle from me. They flew engineers in from another state and they could not figure it out!

So I turned around and bought the EX35. 3000 miles later I had the fuel pump noise. And now at 6000 miles I have this interior creaking noise!! My satisfaction with Infiniti is plummeting to displeasure!

[GoVols]

I have had the creaking sound and it was from the seat. I moved the seat to a different position and the sound is gone. Apparently the seat was rubbing the console.

[dividedhighw]

I get the same "creaking" noise from the seats against the console during left turns at moderate speed. Because it's only there on occasion, I can tolerate it.

I'm guessing they left something off yours during assembly and two dash/body parts are rubbing that wouldn't ordinarily be. Definitely not normal and not something you should have to put up with.

[RobertN]

I have already tried moving the seat to different positions -- only result --- my discomfort! Even moved the passenger seat --- still sounds like I am on a creaking boat in the ocean. Frustrations escalating. It is SO irritating! The noise is there with the passenger seat empty and with a passenger?? Somewhat convinced it is coming from the dash somewhere...............

Possible fix -------- turn the Bose stereo louder!

[bttek]

I have EXACTLY the same issue with my new EX-35. I definately did not have this noise until about a week ago and I took delivery on 05/18/08.

Having a pretty extensive automotive background, I already have the A Pillar trim off along with part of the headliner to gain access to possible areas where the noise is orginating. I even have a set of headphones with a number of clip-on microphones to help isolate where the "creeking" noise is coming from.

At this point, I have narrowed it down to originating just under the passenger side above the headliner where the body meets the A-Pillar. To gain access to this spot you will need to remove the 2- 10mm bolts that hold the side airbag to the roof. The noise seems to be transmitting through the metal and down the A-Pillar on the Passenger side. It is extremely hard to pinpoint as this frequency tends to reflect off a variety of surfaces and is very easily transmitted. If it wasn't for the headphones and numerous microphones, it would have been difficult if not impossible to pinpoint the actual origin.

The question now is how to solve this "creeking" noise... I am going to make a tool where I can access one of the holes in the roof under the headliner and see if I can get to the metal that is causing the noise.

I will post updates to my progress or lack of...

I have already tried moving the seat to different positions -- only result --- my discomfort! Even moved the passenger seat --- still sounds like I am on a creaking boat in the ocean. Frustrations escalating. It is SO irritating! The noise is there with the passenger seat empty and with a passenger?? Somewhat convinced it is coming from the dash somewhere...............

Possible fix -------- turn the Bose stereo louder!

[jmess]

The previous generation Accord had some spot welds missing in the early 2003 models which caused some creaks. Honda eventually fixed the welds for those who complained. We still have an early 2003 and I have yet to hear the creaks.

[Mark Booth]

Do any of you guys keep glasses or sunglasses in the overhead compartment when you are driving? I noticed a noise a few weeks ago and I thought for sure it was coming from the passenger-side A pillar area. But my wife insisted it was coming from the center dash area. We were both wrong... it was my sunglasses sliding and jiggling around inside the overhead compartment.

Just a thought!

Mark

[RobertN]

That is funny Mark! I can vision two people going back and forth on where the noise is coming from and finding it to be your sunglasses in the overhead!!

But I wish mine were that easy. I have taken everything out of all storage compartments to guarantee I am not causing my own dilemma. Sad to say the sound is still there.

At one point I started hearing a different noise and found that it was the slider you have to open prior to opening the moonroof. When my slider is open I will hear it causing a noise but it stops when I close it. That I can tolerate. The creaking noise that will not go away may drive me to insanity! Or at least to the dealer first!!

Thanks for the effort.

[EX-lover]

wow...i just discovered the noise this morning, and then found this being discussed here. Well, in my case, I thought it was my seatbelt lock, but i was in a rush and didn't investigate any further.

[bttek]

After weeks and weeks of searching for this "creaking" noise I finally found it!!!! I even invested in a set of headphones with the microphone clips in order to identify where the noise was originating from.

Okay, here is the deal.. I would notice the creaking noise when driving on a moderately poor road surface or when driving up an inclined driveway. The car would have to be pretty quiet without the stereo playing but the noise once heard was quite distinctive.

I removed the A-Pillar trim from the passenger side and then had to remove the pass grab handle in order to lower the headliner enough to position my microphones to pinpoint the location of where this noise was coming from.

What I found that in my case, the cause is indeed a body seam that is located just above the passenger sun visor. If you flip the sun visor up, you will notice a plastic access panel. Pull down and away as this is held on with 4 clips. Do it gently so you don't break the part. Once this is removed you will see a foiled back adhesive. Remove this and put it aside as you will be re-using this again. Once this is out of the way you will see the body seam and where there is a piece of metal that is folded over on the inside of the roof. This SHOULD have been welded but instead, the tension of the bend of the metal is what is rubbing against the roof causing the creaking noise that we hear.

What I did to solve this was to take a long flat head screwdriver and I pryed down on this piece in order to provide more tension against the inside of the metal. Once I did this and took the car for a drive, all of the creaking noise WAS GONE!!! The proper repair for this would really be to have this spot welded in place but that would require removing the entire headliner and other components to get to this specific location. I feel that there is plenty of tension on it now and I doubt that I will ever here this creaking noise again!!

I wish I took some pictures but this was a 2 week process of just finding out where this noise was coming from!!

If anyone has any questions please let me know..

Thanks!!

BrianBT Tech

[CaribMon71]

Impressive. You must have looked funny driving around trying to isolate this noise. I bet you there is a great business opportunity to be had here. Small creaks, knocks and rattles drive me absolutely crazy. When I can't find one, I always feel I would pay to have the darned thing located and exterminated. I'm sure there are others like me as well.

http://www.rattlefinder.com Go ahead and buy it. It's available.

[bttek]

I am just happy that I was able to solve this issue. Yes, little noises like this bother the hell out of me but to your average person, they could probably care less and just turn up the stereo!!

Yeah, I can just imagine how I must of looked to my neighbors driving up and down the driveway with headphones on for hours. Come to think of it, I believe that I did have to refuel at one point!!

Thanks!!

BrianBT Tech

[rubbersidedown]

If there was an Olympic medal for "I Don't Put Up with @#%!", I think we have a winner! Thanks for sharing that with us.

[alfanut]

You fix sounds cool, but why didn't you just take it to the dealer and request the weld it properly to correct the "manufacturing defect?"Did you let them know? Maybe it should become a recall.

Paul

[bttek]

I try to go to the dealer as little as humanly possible unless there is a problem that I can not fix myself or so doing would be prohibitly expensive.

If I were to take the car as-is complaing about the "creeking" noise, they would probably take the car around the block and then come back and say NPF or it is a "normal" type of noise.

Let's take it one step further... Let's say that they do indeed hear it... Do you think that they would take the time like I did to track it down? In the process, they would have probably destroyed the interior and the headliner not being extremely careful.

The bottom line is it is now fixed and for those that have the same issue, hopefully they will benifit by reading about it here.

[dividedhighw]

Hey Brian,

First, thanks so much for your detailed post. No doubt it will help many others on this forum - even if they don't have the same problem, your resourcefulness and tenacity is a great model for the rest of us!

I don't know if this is what Paul (alfanut) was saying, but I wondered myself, once you found the problem, why didn't you insist the dealer fix the weld properly, even if it meant a lot more work/cost for them? With (presumably), very little mileage on your car, they'd have no choice but to return it in "showroom" condition, so if they screwed up the interior (and you can even take a bunch of pictures beforehand), they'd have to address it.

One other low-risk route might have been to ask for some money back in offset, if you allowed them to do a "patch" fix. That way, you don't risk them tearing the whole car apart, it costs them much less and you essentially get paid something for the time/hassle you endured. I had a situation with Audi where I negotiated a similar outcome - the car was less than ideal, but I was $500 richer.

As is, you let Infiniti off the hook, "scott-free".

Cheers,David

[bttek]

Hello David,

My intentions were to fix the issue and not have to go to the dealer to beg for someone to fix something that they might not admit was ever a problem.

I have been in the automotive field for a very long time and I am at the point where if there is something arrises that I can fix myself, I would much rather take care of it rather than going through all the hassle of having someone else take care of it. Also, I know that if I do something myself, it will be done correctly without breaking other things in the process.

Also, I was not looking for any type of financial consideration either from my dealer of from Infiniti as I simply wanted to make the "creeking" noise go away. If my car had this issue and others also develop it, hopefully the information that I posted will help others.

BrianBT Tech

[Taunton02780]

I had the exact same issue ... I could have sworn it was coming from the passenger side in the dash area (or behind it). I too discovered it was the SUNGLASS holder (noises have a weird way of sounding like they are coming from somewhere else). Try removing your sunglasses and take it for a drive ... you might be surprised (I was)!

Modified by Taunton02780 at 9:57 AM 10/7/2008
Modified by Taunton02780 at 9:58 AM 10/7/2008

[RobertN]

Even though this thread has aged since I first posted it, I finally did discover where this noise was coming from. It is from the drivers seat belt at the location between the seat and center console. If I "push" the belt buckle portion forward towards the front of the car the creaking noise goes away. As soon as I swing it back to its "natural" position the noise returns. So I am now in the habit of once the seat belt is buckled I just swing it forward just a touch and "silence is golden". Eventually I will try to resolve the noise so the seat belt position does not matter.

[philex]

Yes, I've had the noise in the eyglass storage compartment too. But the one that had me baffled for a couple of weeks was the tin of altoids mints in the console!

[dividedhighw]

I get the same "creaking" noise from the seats against the console during left turns at moderate speed. Because it's only there on occasion, I can tolerate it.

An update: Just had my car in for service and mentioned this noise. The dealer was able to adjust the centre console so that it's now hardly touching the driver's seat with the result that the squeaking is gone!!

They did mention there isn't much adjustability, but what they did was sufficient to deal with the symptom in my car.

HTH,David

[drducati]

I hope you are still looking at this thread...although I love my new Infiniti EX it has had nearly every issue mentioned in these forums. I've had it since 8-2008 and have had the fuel pump changed, the steering wheel mechanism fixed but I continue to be plagued by the dreaded noise!! Of course it's intermittent, but it did occur while driving the service tech around. They think that it has to do with the defroster (?) and I have been waiting for three weeks for them to let me know when they have received the necessary item. This noise is more like a crackling, vibration sound than a creaking and is definitely coming from the passenger dash and is maddening. I have removed all items hoping it was vibration. I will let you know if they have properly diagnosed it but I'm not optimistic...I will have to return it if they cannot diagnose it as it's that bad.

It took this long to get the part ordered and the repair completed (DEC 1) and the noise continues. They thought it was the defroster grill and obviously that wasn't it. I was going to turn around and bring the car back but they had it for two weeks and something tells me they'll never figure it out. It is definitely coming from the passenger side dash and is a crackling noise that is intermittent. Anyone with any ideas as the service guys haven't been able to figure it out.

Modified by drducati at 3:15 AM 12/2/2008
Modified by drducati at 11:55 AM 12/3/2008

[dividedhighw]

Welcome to our group, drducati, and do keep us posted so we can all benefit from your experience!

Cheers,David

[302@12psi]

I have the same noise and it's off and on. It happens when driving normally on relativly smooth roads.

It sounds like it's coming from the middle of the dash somewhere near the speaker or to the left of it.

It's really faint and unless the radio is down and I'm using my phone or talking to someone I cant hear it.

[njcu]

I found out what was causing the creaking noise in mine. The receiver for the front passenger side seatbelt moved forward/down and was rubbing against the center console.

[dividedhighw]

This noise is more like a crackling, vibration sound than a creaking and is definitely coming from the passenger dash and is maddening.

It is definitely coming from the passenger side dash and is a crackling noise that is intermittent. Anyone with any ideas as the service guys haven't been able to figure it out.

Sounds like the problem reported by TSB "ITB07-007b" ... here's a quote from it:

A tapping noise coming from the dash area when the engine is running at operating temperature,NOTE: This tapping noise, if it should occur, sounds like a screwdriver being tapped on the work bench.The tapping speed increases and decreases with the engine RPM and may require engine RPM of about3000 for the noise to be heard.

The TSB states it applies to EX's built before 07-Apr-2008, having VINs prior to: JNKAJ09E(*)8M 306599, JNKAJ09F(*)8M 361371

HTH,David

[CaribMon71]

I feel for you, man. My Lexus IS 250 developed that problem and it just about drove me nuts. I got tired of punching the dash and finally got rid of the car. The service monkey couldn't find it either.

For your sanity's sake, I hope you can get it fixed ASAP.

[bttek]

The TSB that you quoted is for an "engine" noise and not the interior noise that is described in this thread.

Thanks!!

BrianBT Tech

[dividedhighw]

No Brian, I have a copy of that TSB. It references noise originating from the heater core, which is NOT the engine, but in behind the dash. I only posted that because I believe it fits the "crackling noise that is intermittent" "from the passenger side dash" as described by drducati.

Cheers,David

[bttek]

True enough but I think that the TSB that you referenced was for a mechanical noise, not the creaking/ticking noise that some of us have experienced when driving the car over rough surfaces.

Thanks!!

BrianBT Tech