I spent my saturday trying to fix the annoying rattling noise coming from my trunk and i finally got it. In my case, it was a simple fix that i came up with AFTER i completely took apart my back seats, trunk trim, latches, etc. etc.

Here's what i've learned after my day long obsessive search for this annoying rattle. It's a combination of my experience and bits and pieces i picked up on this bulletin board. this also assumes that you've eliminated all loose junk from your trunk as the source, and that all the obvious screws, panels, etc. were tightened and there's still rattling.

1. Loose trunk when closed: This was my problem. Normally, when the trunk lid closes, its latch locks itself around the metal hook that is on the base of the latch, just above the bumper. When the trunk is closed, there is slack/play between the hook and the trunk lid latch. This may be either a design flaw from Nissan or bad workmanship when i had fender-bender repair work back there. not too sure. The easiest fix is to limit the amount of trunk lid movement by using some sort of padding or rubber. What i found was that if i close the trunk on some rubber padding, i had no noise. All you have to do is trim it neatly, and then stick it on the one-inch margin just inside the edge of the trunk lid. The trunk will require a bit more effort to close, but you'll have less movement. I used 3/8" rubber flooring but you can use any kind of padding, rubber, etc. that is thick enough to isolate movement, but compressible enough to engage the trunk latch lock.

2. Loose key rod: if you remove the panel on the inside of the trunk lid, you can see a rod that connects the keylock with the trunk latch. the rod just sits really loose, so you can just stuff a rag or some packaging styrofoam in there and the noise will be eliminated. Note: use of key may be affected.

3. Loose trunk latch base just above the bumper: This was really loose when i pound on it, but i couldn't totally isolate it. All i did was put some rubber between the screws that mount the black solenoid box and the frame, and it was a slight improvment

4. Loose seat back frame: I was real skeptical of this when i first read about this from Pete, another .org person, but i found that if the seatback frame is even slightly loose, it makes lots of noise. This didn't turn out to be a problem for me, but here's a fix. Remove the back seat completly and you'll see a piece of sheet metal bolted to the frame. remove the frame, and insert some sort of sheet rubber or other type of isolator between the sheetmetal and the car frame. quite likely the noise is a result of metal-on-metal contact. After that, install the sheet metal compleately, and then the seats. I used a thread-locking Loctite-type compound on the bolts. It's available at hardware stores. Be real careful removing the seats - i cut my hands in 4 different places trying to adjust and remount the seats.

5. Loose spoiler/LED: I'm still fuzzy on this. All I can see is tighten the spoiler mounting nuts as best as you can. the LED's - remove the light assembly, drill a hole on the back side of the rattly area, drop some adhesive, and let it set for awhile before installing it.

Of course, there are likely several other sources of rattly noises, but these seem to be the major ones. If anyone else can think of any others or would like to comment on mine, please do so, by all means. It's about 1 AM for me right now, so some of this stuff may not be compleately coherent, so feel free to email me if you have questions or need clarificttions.

Cheers!

 

in my case, what I found to be rattling the most, is that little cardboard thing on the back wall of the trunk. I removed that completely. I also removed the sheet meatal on back of seat, and the cover on the trunk lid.

 

i found that the Car Jack in the little pocket on the right side of the trunk was making the noise, i took that out.. PROBLEM SOLVED

i'm glad that was it, .. i didn't want to take apart the whole trunk.. phew!

 

Ive known about all the other rattle sources but I think the one I need to try is the one you said about putting some rubber stripping to take up the extra play. I hope that will completely get rid of that annoying rattle

 

ever think of going dynamat?

 

I'm thinkin of doin that on the doors to eliminate outside road noise... what do u think?

 

You guys got rid of trunk noise, but how the hell do i get rid of trunk flex? My trunk flexes about an inch when the bass hits.

 

A couple of non-maxima guys suggested to me later on that most cars have an adjustable latch, where we might be able to lower the part of the latch right above the bumper to eliminate the play. I didn't see how that is possible on the maxima, but i wasn't looking for it specifically.

Someone else gets an inch of flex when the sub hits? Holy Cow! that's some flex....

 

what is trunk flex, and how do you figure out if you have it.

 

Well its easy. You put your stereo on very loud. You walk out of the car. If the bass is making your maxima letters move out an inch as the bass hits, you have trunk flex. If you dont have a box in your trunk, you wont know what I'm talkin about.

 

I'm flexin all of the time

 

Hahahah. Stop scaring all the chicks on the org away

 

Haha, I realized that too. If you press that part of the trunk in where the letters are gone the bass will sound really nice from outside the car. People next to you at red lights won't laugh like your a 1980's ricermobile.

 

Anyone ever solved flex problem?

 

Ya, I tried lowering the volume and to my astonishment...it worked!!

 

I think my volume is stuck on high. I haven't turned it down in years.