New passenger van. Took the seats out because the dealer said the noises were from the seats. Not so. Rattles like a hammer knocking around but appears to come from the tailgate area. Jack and tools are wrapped up in towels and secure. Not the cause. Will be going back and forth to the dealer until they acknowledge it and fix it. Dealer says, "This is a cargo van and they make noise." No one pays $44k for a cargo van. This is a passenger van and shouldn't rattle!
Passenger van loud rattles
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I'd say you need to isolate a condition in which you can make it happen. Does it only happen when you stop hard, accelerate hard, or hit a bump for example. Then find a spot in near the dealer where it does it reliably. Once you have that you probably can get someone from the dealership to go for a right with you so they can hear it. If it is not reproducible it is going to be very hard to get the dealer to fix anything.
I assume you've already crawled under to have a look for anything loose or miss aligned.
I assume you've already crawled under to have a look for anything loose or miss aligned.
We fixed it! My husband drove while I lay inside with my head against the inside tailgate. When I pressed on the black paneling on the tailgate at the corners and the middle, the rattles stopped. We took rubber window insulation and slipped it between the lower panel edge almost all the way across the tailgate. The noises which were really loud, disappeared. So much for the service department telling me that all vans rattle!
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You might consider using felt tape as a more permanent solution.
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Mine neither.
In October I test drove a Metris Cargo van demo that Mercedes Benz of Seattle had in stock for the Seattle Auto Show. The salesman went with my on my test drive. The first thing I noticed when I pulled out from the dealership was an annoying rattle coming from the upper left driver side door. I told the salesman that if I were to order a new Metris and it rattled like that I would be bringing it back to the dealer right away. His reply was, "and you should, no Mercedes should rattle like that".
I ended up ordering my Metris after that test drive and I am happy to say so far no rattles. I do need to put some foam discs in the center console cup holders as I tend to set loose change, keys, glasses, & stuff in them and with the hard plastic loose items like that will make a racket.
Follow-up after a month: They fixed everything after we showed them our temporary solutions (putting rubber window insulation under the rear door inside panel top, bottom and sides. The also adjusted the striker and the hinge fittings. Works great now! My advice: keep complaining until it's fixed correctly.
On a side note, learned that the van is made in Germany then disassembled, shipped to Atlanta and reassembled! Lots of room for things to go wrong in this process.
On a side note, learned that the van is made in Germany then disassembled, shipped to Atlanta and reassembled! Lots of room for things to go wrong in this process.
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Actually, the van is built in Vitoria-Gasteez, Spain. (Hence its world name, Vito) passenger vans are not disassembled, they are prepped for sea transport, RORO'd onto a boat, and prepped for sale in Ladson, South Carolina.
Cargo vans are built in Spain, test driven, cerfied, sent to Germany, the drive train and a few other things are removed,, the van and the parts are loaded into seperate containers, the containers put on seperate ships, and are sent to Ladson where the same exact parts are then re-installed on its original van. It is then sent to your dealership. This avoids a 25% tax on commercial vehicles (which includes windowless vans) known as the Chicken Tax. And yeah, it includes a lot of room for error, especially American assembly workers.
Cargo vans are built in Spain, test driven, cerfied, sent to Germany, the drive train and a few other things are removed,, the van and the parts are loaded into seperate containers, the containers put on seperate ships, and are sent to Ladson where the same exact parts are then re-installed on its original van. It is then sent to your dealership. This avoids a 25% tax on commercial vehicles (which includes windowless vans) known as the Chicken Tax. And yeah, it includes a lot of room for error, especially American assembly workers.
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It is.
Is the Sprinter also covered by the Chicken Tax?
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Naturally.
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I will tell you that mine looks closed but shows up on the "door ajar" image unless it is very firmly shut.
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Any MB service advisory on this rattle, rumble problem?
I have a loud resonant rattle or rumble once my cargo van is very warm and usually going between 40-55 mph usually begins with deceleration--sounds something like a small 18-wheeler with Jake brakes. Had it in to MB 2x. The catalytic converter shield is tight. You can feel the rattle when it's going by putting a hand on the floor panel on the passenger side above the converter. Does anyone know about a specific service advisory on this?
I have a loud resonant rattle or rumble once my cargo van is very warm and usually going between 40-55 mph usually begins with deceleration--sounds something like a small 18-wheeler with Jake brakes. Had it in to MB 2x. The catalytic converter shield is tight. You can feel the rattle when it's going by putting a hand on the floor panel on the passenger side above the converter. Does anyone know about a specific service advisory on this?
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