2002 SLE with 145K



Lately I have had a rattling sound coming from the trunk area or either side of the back package tray area. It sounds like golf balls bouncing in a tin can when the car goes over even small bumps and road humps at low speeds - like in a rough parking lot. The sounds seems to be coming from both sides high up above the rear seat ? I had my mechanic look it over... shocks, mounts, everything under the car and in the trunk. I took everything out of the car and trunk - including the spare tire and its equipment, carpet and everyhting !

It is very annoying and the dealer wants to charge hundreds of dollars to put "body ears" on the car but they say they can find it ?? I was thinking lose shocks or something but they say everything like that is good.

Anyone had this happen ? What should I check ? I'm about to climb in the trunk and have my wife drive the car around to see if I can hear it. Anyone ever do that ?

That'* one way to check it out! If ya do that make sure all the carpeting is down off the sides of the trunk and you have a flash light handy to watch the upper shock mounts. may also want to check out all the electronics mounted behind the rear seat in the trunk area as they may have been broken off their mounts and be smacking around.

could be either a heat shield on the exhaust or more likely look under the car below the rear seats u will see a small metal rod spot welded at the bend of the exhaust as a brace... i bet one of the welds broke to its hitting your exhaust pipe..
broke sway bar?

well, you guys are pretty good ! I climbed in the trunk and had my wife drive me around with a flashlight. Heard it loud and clear - coming from the shock towers behind the carpet. They were tight, but I could "feel" the rattling as I was hearing it coming from the shocks down below. I recall them being replaced recently durring a service, and I bet they are not tight or have worked lose or could be defective. I'm going back to the dealer where the shocks were replaced and demand that they fix it.

Thanks, guys.

Glad to hear the guys helped you and got your noise resolved