rawky

On bumpy country roads, the rear hatch squeaks like no-one's business. The previous owner put a few stickers on top of each other on the side of the hatch between it and the car body, and this apparently made it better, but there's still quite a loud noise...

Solutions???
All Help Appreciated
Simon

jleidel

Mine squeaked quite a bit when I first brought it home. The deck latch wasn't holding the hatch down tight enough to compress the weather stripping. After adjusting the latch to pull the hatch down tighter, squeak went away.

rawky

That sounds like it could be the source of the problem, could you explain what you're adjusting to make it grip tighter?

jleidel

I adjusted the the latch on the deck lid itself. I loosened the hex bolts and slid it down by a few `mm`. I did this a few times until i was satisfied with the fit.

rawky

Cheers, I'll give that a try tomorrow!

Leon Speed

The hatch rubbing on the rubber stops half way up on both sides of the car body can cause squeaking, there are supposed to be teflon stickers on the inside of the hatch to prevent this.

Bill Ball

Hatch squeaks can come from a lot of causes. I've seen several different causes just in my car.

-The seal. Lube the seal with some silicone grease, such as SylGlide. Get the entire seal circunference. Very thin coat rubbed into the rubber is all you need. It should not leave a mess.
-Loose hatch latch. One solution shown already. Others may involve replacing the upper latch plastic tongue. Its pivot hole wears oblong over time and many people end up having to extend the rubber bumpers at back corners of the hatch to keep it from rattling, to the extent that the hatch sits above the body line and no longer makes firm contact with the seal. Also, make sure the hinge bolts are tight.
- Rear wiper. I had a very loud squeak from the rear that was finally traced to the wiper pivot, where the cam plate in the upper hatch made contact with the motor shaft. Lube fixed it.

Although illegal, the easiest way to locate the source of the squeak or rattle is to lie down in the hatch area while someone drives you around. It took me less than 30 seconds to locate a squeak that had been driving me nuts for months. In another case I had a strange rattle that proved to be a loose top nut on one of my rear shocks, easily located when I was lying in the hatch area.

Tampa 928s

I'm having the same problem on my 85 Euro, looks like the on the passenger side it cocked up a little and not laying flat. I tried all the bumpers etc and no change. So by moving the 4-bolts can you lower the back angle?

jleidel

This worked on my 80' ROW.... just enough to stop the squeak.

the flyin' scotsman

Silicone spray as Bill mentions works magic on the old rubber...........I spray onto a cloth and wipe the rubber, saves on overspray.

jpitman2

FIRST thing to check is do you have the receiver liner - soft moulded thing ? Mine was missing - awful squeaks. Bought used receiver with liner - squeaks gone, end of issue. The liner CAN'T be bought separately!!!!
jp 83 Euro S AT 52k

rawky

Cheers Everyone, tried a few things all at one and the squeak has gone. I oiled the hinges, and my opinion this is what fixed it, I also adjusted the rubber stopppers on the side and the rear most point of the hatch to be a few mm higher. I couldn't adjust the plastic tongue on the hatch though, it must be a model year thing. Mine's a 1991 S4, and there's no adjustment there.

Cheers for all your help!
Simon

SharkSkin

Simon, none of them have an adjustment for the plastic tongue, but most cars have enough play in the mounting that you can move the whole latch forward. Also, the white plastic latch itself wears and can be replaced. In the pic below, the old one is on the left.