rye595

My car feels new all over again today. And it's possible this might help someone down the road:

My new GTS developed a rattle at about 1500 miles, somewhere behind the driver's side dash. It was much more pronounced when the air was warmer - above 40 or 45 degrees, which made it intermittent throughout the winter. But when it was happening, it was a serious rattle that went well beyond the normal noises we all know these cars make. It sounded like something was loose deep inside the car - not a plastic resonance like most of the noises our cars make, but a metallic noise.

The first time I made an appointment, or course the temperature dipped into the 20's. To my dealer's credit, they took it seriously, and investigated. He found a bulletin about a fuel tank bolt that could rub on the firewall, and replaced it with a different bolt. Someone here had that done as well, so I was hopeful, but halfway home, the rattle was back.

Appointment 2: A tech hear the rattle clearly, and spent an entire day investigating. He said he put felt all over the interior and took care of little noises he was hearing in the doors, dash, and cowl, listening with those headphones they have. But after 8 hours, he was completely stymied. He asked me to make another appointment when another one of his colleagues would be back from vacation. And apparently Porsche has a roving set of engineers that they send around for problems the dealers can't handle - he was planning to call that person in if he couldn't fix it.

Appointment 3: I dropped the car off 4 days ago, picked up a Cayenne loaner, and told them not to give it back to me until it was resolved. The noise had gotten to the point where passengers would say "what the hell is that?" Since I'm a fanatic about this car, I nicely told them I wanted it stored inside at night, and I didn't want it sitting around in the rain.

FINALLY: I got the call today that it was done. There's another bulletin about the fuel tank - the foam pads that it sits on against the frame can come loose, or perhaps they were installed incorrectly, and that causes rubbing. Porsche has a new version of the pads. It requires draining the coolant, dropping the suspension, and dropping the tank. Took them 9 hours of labor. And after an hour of driving, it seems completely gone - thank god! After watching that 993 Turbo burn up at the NY Auto show, I was getting ideas about my car.

So if you have issues, stay with it. My first instinct is to not trust dealer service departments. And I hate having my new, carefully cared-for car sitting around a dealership. For the first appointment, it sat out for a day in the rain, which really pissed me off! But when I spoke up, they took it seriously, and they really worked hard to resolve the issue. I'm satisfied. It feels like a brand new car again - it's amazing how much this detracted from my overall experience when it was rattling.

teambell

Glad to hear the good news on resolution!

stratocaster69

What year is your GTS? You say new, I am kinda assuming a 16.

mtony

The fuel tank issue has been around for around two years. Hard to believe that it's still an issue. My car had a rattle over a year ago. They replaced the fuel tank pads, and the rattle continued. Ended up being the driver's side top strut mount.

n8kruger

Sorry to hear this is still an issue. I happened with my '13 and I went in with the info I got from Rennlist and asked them to fix it. Had to wait for the parts from Germany and bring in the car with an empty gas tank but they fixed it. Apparently one of the gas tank/dash bolts was broken.

Thanks RL!

rye595

Interesting - I didn't find anything about the pads in a search. Just the bolt, which they did replace originally, with no results. I was convinced it was the strut mount, but this seemed to fix it.

rye595

Yep. 2016 that I picked up last Nov. I've been struggling with this all winter.

Chris C.

Hopefully not too OT - anyone having an issue with warm weather squeal under the dash near the driver's cockpit? Sounds a lot like the old issue 993s had with squeaking speedometer cables. Sounds like a grasshopper under the dash.

I've also recently learned our 991s still have the old school glass creaking noises (ie crinkling paper) from the rear window seal flexing - my 12K mile car is now exhibiting this after a fun run on some particularly horrible bumpy roads recently. Fix back then was to install a lubricated cable in the channel to prevent glass flex/rubbing but it only worked some of the time.

Anyone experiencing these?

(so funny to see the same 'ol idiosyncrasies with our cars. I always chuckle when people call it a GT car. it's still the same old 911 to me)

plenum

As I recall there were several bulletins related to interior noises, such as I also believe there was a more general bulletin (can't recall the number) regarding eliminating noise symptoms which included some reference to reworking the baffling / insulation materials between firewall and gas tank.

stratocaster69

Thanks, I have a 2016. I appreciate it and will keep my ears peeled.

t0mas

I had the same issue - my dealer was able to solve it fairly quickly as well by replacing the fuel tank pads - and the squeak hasn't come back since

maxpowers

I've brought my car in twice for rattles and to their credit they've fixed them, but there's a new rattle and I only have 5,000 miles on my 2014. Last time there was a pretty bad rattle whenever I would lean forward and then back in the seat, like when you're checking if a lane is clear. The service guy said he tried it in my car and 2 others and they all made the noise so it's a problem with the 991, but he fixed the noise on my car anyway.

Now I occasionally hear a noise that sounds like when you tap on the plastic piece where the garage door opener is or if you move the sun visor up and down when I accelerate or hit any kind of bump. It sounds like it's coming somewhere on the passenger side in the back, but I don't know exactly where.

I don't know how you're supposed to expertly diagnose these rattles yourself. Can't you just tell them you don't want any rattles anywhere from your car?

rye595

I have the seat creak too. I didn't even mention it here because ai was so happy to have the major issue fixed. But it's something to do with the interface between the seat back and the bottom. That will be the next thing I deal with at the dealer (they already know about it) if I can't resolve it myself. It's really unfortunate these cars make so much damn noise when they're so incredible in every other way.

stratocaster69

Thats the one plus I have with my aftermarket sports exhaust. Cant here rattles. lol But I hate them too and there are certain ones I hear in quite vehicles that drive me nuts. Cant blame anyone how is obsessed with making their car rattle free.

rye595

Thanks to you and others on RL, I have AWE on order! I'm nervous that I'll find it too obnoxious, but I think I'm ready to give it a go. I love the way the PSE sounds, but I want just a bit more of it.