Michael Gibney

Have had my 2002 Targa for almost a year now -- serviced at the main Porsche dealer -- they do a good job -- but -- I asked them to fix the roof rattles -- above the passenger's head and in the back behind the back seats -- they said they had fixed it with some factory recomended grease and for a week or so the rattle over the passenger's head was gone but the rattle in the back was the same.

Over the holidays I spent some time tracking the rattles down and found the following fixes.

The rattle above the passenger was due to the sliding roof being too tight a fit into the outer part -- there is a new roof module that was introduced in 2004 (I think) that gave a little more clearance and stopped the contact and resultant noise -- you will know if you have a noise producing early type if (you have the noise and (if)) you open the roof up all the way and look at the rear corners of the fixed roof opening and see a worn shiny patch in the radius corner -- that is the result of too little clearance and is the "noise maker". This is where the Porsche dealer placed the very sticky grease but it had worn away. I cleaned the two areas -- at the rear of each side with motor spirit dabbed on a rag to get rid of all of the grease then I stuck on a small velcro patch -- the soft furry half of a velcro kit -- right in the corner -- so that when the foof closes it now has an interference fit with a tough velcro pad. This has now lasted 4 months and is silent and shows no sign of wear. And there is no sign of wear on the front corners which I expected would happen because the interference fit pad is pushing the roof say 1/16th of an inch forward.

The rattle in the rear was also an easy fix. First remove the panel that hides the targa roof electric motors -- place yor fingers under it and pull it out -- you will see it's designed to come out like that -- underneath you will see the two "keys" that you would use to close the Targa roof if you have a "roof open window mechanism failure". You will see that the top of the metal "bridge" that goes from one side of the car to the other -- the bridge has the rear hatch electric latch fixed to it -- has a plastic cover to hide the metal -- that cover is a born rattler because if you look at the way it's placed there is no anti rattle pads and it just moves about -- the cover panel that you have removed gives it some support when all assembled but not much. The fix is to get a peice of 3/8 rubber fuel line and cut off a peice an inch long and then cut that in half lengthways -- you now have two little rubber insulation peices -- insert one on each side about 12 inches in from each side -- they go in under the rear hatch seal rubber on top of the plastic cover. Then if you give the area a thump with a fist you may hear a banging noise -- that is probably the mysterious banging you hear when the rear suspension hits one of those heart stopping rough bits in the road -- you will see that the metal bracket that holds the electric hatch mechanism sits about 5/8ths of an inch off the carpet -- if you get a peice of rubber heater hose -- about 7/8ths in diameter -- and cut off two peices each about an inch long you can place them "pointing" forward and aft between the bottom of the metal bracket and the carpet. Then have a bang around with your fist and see if anything else is making noise -- there are a lot of cables and fittings in there but on mine thay were all secure and silent. Then replace the rear panel and drive in silence.

Barn996

Don't have a Targa, but your info should certainly help those that do. Thanks for the info and for sharing it here.

ivangene

good info - good you fixed it and spent time with your car

prsdoc

Thanks for the post. I've got some roof rattles in my '02 that have crept up over the past few months. I'll have to track them down and apply some of the fixes you've mentioned.

ckipa

I had the same roof rattle and could not get rid of it. It was so irritating!! Tried the velcro and it works perfectly! No rattle sound at all now. Thanks for the tip!!

Skotch13

OMG I need to try this. My 02 Targa rattles like crazy in the same place and it drives me insane.


Thanks for the info!

bezza911

Hi Michael,
just read your tips for the targa top rattles and I will give it a go once I pick up some velcro, nice work!

bezza911

Hi Michael,
I have a new to me 02' with a couple of rattles in the area you describe above my head. I will give this a go this weekend when I source some velcro. You don't happen to have a photo of exactly where you placed the velcro by chance?

bezza911

apologies for the double post

Michael Gibney

Hi, was certain there were some photo's posted here, but seems not, would be on another post of mine re Targa roof rattles, if you can do a search you should see them, if not to be found I will repost but cannot do for a few days, away from the home computer ATM

bezza911

Hi Michael,
I found the old thread and see exactly what you mean, perfect! I would love to see what you did in the rear section with the radiator hose etc.Should you get the chance in the future, please do post a few pics. I am on "X" Adelaidian also, sadly living in Germany right now, but I will get back one day!

Thanks again,

Bez

bezza911

Also another issue I have is it appears the cables are worn. At the 2nd 5th of the closing cycle I can hear a nasty grind as the motor tries to get a grab on the cable. It sometimes stops in that position and needs a little manual assistance to get over the hump. There's a Porsche factory and dealership here so I guess the inevitable will be to get them to embark on a quotation to replace the cables. Not sure I am ready for that number as yet....

bezza911

WOW!, just put velcro on the frame corners as recommended and added a couple of extra bits where the wind deflector seats itself when glass is in the closed position, not a rattle anywhere. Now all I need to do is find the one in the back Michael is talking about. I took the protective cover off the cross bar for a quick look, see a motor hanging there but it looked/felt pretty solid. More time tomorrow to investigate further.

Cheers Michael.

RallyDogRacing

Oh please - someone post up the link with photos. My '02 definitely rattles and I would LOVE to sort that this weekend!

bezza911

I will take some for you tomorrow of the extra bits I did, but here's the link the Michael's original post with the roof rattles part 1.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...of-issues.html