Rattle noise coming from rear hatch - SOLVED

rubeninfl

Member
Hi guys,
I'm posting this information here just in case someone ever has a problem with their CX-5 similar to mine.

I started to hear a slight rattle coming from the rear of my car about 2 months after I purchased it. I wouldn't hear the noise all the time...just occasionally when going over bumps, but most of the time there was no noise. It kinda sound like I had a tool box in the cargo area and tools bumped into each other when I want over bumps in the road. I made sure there was nothing back there and kept driving. Soon I could hear the noise when I was traveling at high speeds on the highway with no bumps...just the vibration of the car and the wind. it got to the point where I couldn't stand driving without the radio turned up and passengers always asked me what that noise was.

I took the car to the dealer and described the noise. they had one of the techs ride with me and sure enough the car did not make a sound. Even so, they kept the car and said they would check it out. A few hours later they called me and said that they couldn't find any noise. So I went home and sure enough there was no noise on the ride home. Next day I drive to work and I hear the noise the whole way. A couple of months later I bring the car in for the vibrating mirror issue and ask them to look for the noise again. Again, the tech can't hear anything and they can't fix it.

Fast forward to this week when I have already accepted that I'm just going to have a noisy car. I was washing my car and at some point I grabbed the rear spoiler and it made a squeeky rattling noise. I grabbed the spoiler again and tried wiggling it and it made a sound very much like what I heard when I was driving. Of course it sounds completely different when you're standing outside. I sat inside the car and had my girl wiggle the spoiler and THAT WAS IT!!!!!

I took the car to the dealership this morning. Before I even talked to them I walked up to some CX-5's on the lot and tried to wiggle their spoilers...nothing. They wouldn't budge and didn't make a sound. Long story short, my spoiler was loose and that was the source of the noise. The tech took off a plastic cover on the inside of the hatch that just pops off and took of two black buttons on each end...that exposed the screws that hold the spoiler in place. He said three of them were completely loose. How those things got loose is beyond me. Maybe they weren't tightened at the factory, but anyway....that was my problem. If you hear that noise....check to see if your spoiler is loose.

I have an .mp3 of the sound i was hearing if anyone want to hear it I could upload it somewhere or email it to you so you can see if this is the noise you have.

Good luck!
 
Simply upload that mp3 file here. I am curious about the noise. Yesterday, I had a similar noise. I will sure look at my spoiler.
 
Here is an .mp3 file of the noise. Ignore the white/road noise and you will clearly hear the high pitched rattling and squeeking that was being caused by the loose spoiler. It's been a few days now and I haven't heard a peep!
 

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Here is an .mp3 file of the noise. Ignore the white/road noise and you will clearly hear the high pitched rattling and squeeking that was being caused by the loose spoiler. It's been a few days now and I haven't heard a peep!

The would get annoying. Looks like it can be tightened from inside. It also has some double side tape that is utilized.



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Mine did the same. When I popped the cover inside, the nuts just fell out. Just tighten them up and you're good to go!
 
Here is an .mp3 file of the noise. Ignore the white/road noise and you will clearly hear the high pitched rattling and squeeking that was being caused by the loose spoiler. It's been a few days now and I haven't heard a peep!

That would drive me absolutely insane if I heard that on more than one occasion. That's awesome you figured out the problem, and thanks for sharing!
 
Mine did the same. When I popped the cover inside, the nuts just fell out. Just tighten them up and you're good to go!
Are you talking about the nuts that hold the large spoiler or the black one on each side of the spoiler. According to the technical manual, you have to take off the entire rear spoiler to access the black spoiler's nuts.
 
Are you talking about the nuts that hold the large spoiler or the black one on each side of the spoiler. According to the technical manual, you have to take off the entire rear spoiler to access the black spoiler's nuts.

On mine they didn't have to take the spoiler off so it wasn't the black inserts on the sides. I was told that to access the loose nuts they just had to remove the long horizontal piece at the top of the interior of the hatch.
 
Thanx rubeninfl I'll do a check over the weekend. Still have the noise in the rear hatch area and others as well.
 
Thanks for this.
Mine has been squeaking and I checked the actual spoiler screws, since you can open up the caps easily that are on the far left and right, I checked it and the screws were SUPER LOOSE
Now I'm wondering if I should open up the rest and check?
 
Thanks for this post, my wife's CX-5 has had that annoying rattle / squeak for a few months now.

I took apart the middle plastic trim piece which gives access to the two middle nuts and popped off the black plastic caps on the outer side. The two outer nuts were completely loose, and one of the inner ones was also loose. I tightened them all up, went for a quick drive and the rattle is gone.
 
Did anyone put any blue loctite or similar on the nuts before tightening them? I would figure the loctite would help prevent the nuts from loosening on their own and prevent a repeat of having to go into the hatch and do this all over again.


EDIT: today, 30 Nov, I popped the plugs ('Cap-A' in above picture) in the rear hatch to check the nuts and sure enough, mine were loose; the right more so than the left. So, before tightening them down, I applied blue loctite to each and snugged them down. I then applied a witness mark with a sharpie to verify position in the future. cheers.
 
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The would get annoying. Looks like it can be tightened from inside. It also has some double side tape that is utilized.



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All four of the items "NUT" were loose on my spoiler, and 2 nuts were completely gone, while the 3rd was completely loose, but I could find it. In short, my spoiler only had one loose nut instead of 4 properly torqued ones. Going to buy 2 replacements tomorrow.
 
Did anyone put any blue loctite or similar on the nuts before tightening them? I would figure the loctite would help prevent the nuts from loosening on their own and prevent a repeat of having to go into the hatch and do this all over again.


EDIT: today, 30 Nov, I popped the plugs ('Cap-A' in above picture) in the rear hatch to check the nuts and sure enough, mine were loose; the right more so than the left. So, before tightening them down, I applied blue loctite to each and snugged them down. I then applied a witness mark with a sharpie to verify position in the future. cheers.

Yes, I use Loctite formula 243 on everything with threads except for choke-tubes, and I sold all the shotguns I had that took those, so...
 
Just bought a 2015 CX-5 from a dealer. I noticed the spoiler loose and took the caps off and both nuts were missing. I replaced them with the following from home depot. They had a pack of two exact replacements M6-1.0 flange nuts in case anyone needs to replace them.
 
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