Dash rattles

[Gaz mr-s]

There is an old thread on here about using air conditioning lagging stuffed down between the bottom of the windscreen & the dash. I've used it on 3 cars & it works well, - varying from car to car.

I had also come across a Toyota Bulletin about undoing the bolts on the outsides of the dash (open door wide), getting an assistant to press firmly forward on the dash, & re-tightening the bolts.

On one car it made a big difference. The 'clatter' is gone & now only 'knocks'.  It allowed me to hear that my instrument pod had a rattle.

When I tried the bolts for tightness, they weren't even wrist-tight.
They are machine threads, but do not seem to engage into metal....ie do not come to a solid stop. I spoke to a mechanic & he suggested that they'll go into a nylon/plastic that splays out. 

So you turn, & turn, & turn, & they don't get really tight, but if you go too far, it will cause a white crack underneath the bolt head.  If I undo mine again I'll fit a washer under the bolt head.  I also wonder about some PTFE tape on the bolt threads??? 

Worth trying.

[Dev]

Not exactly related but Toyota sold some sort of interior rattle kit for our cars that consisted of some kind of felt tape that you add on various parts where there is contact rubbing movements causing squeaks and rattles.

  It might be beneficial to some to just buy some felt material and add it to areas where they suspect there is plastic to plastic contact.