Squeaking A-pillar

[Gary687]

Hi folks

I've had my baby ('02 4200 CC) for a couple of months now and she contnues to run both effortlessly and faultlessly. Daily driving is such a pleasure and I am continually awash with that commonly-felt feeling of getting into and driving the most amazing vehicle. Over here in Brisbane Maserati's are incredibly rare - I've only ever seen 1 other and that was a newish GT - so that just adds to the overall feeling of ownership!!

My only slight gripe is that I am encountering a really rather annoying squeak that seems to come from around the A-pillar on the driver's side. Admittedly, with windows open and engine note roaring or the radio turned up it's hardly the end of the world but it's irritating to say the least. Not being very handy, I've turned to the 'easy' route and used a variety of silicone sprays in a variety of different areas to see if that will quieten it down but with no good result - it still haunts me - and taking trim off scares the bejesus out of me as I am all fingers and thumbs with such things and tend to just make matters worse by breaking things!

Just wondering whether anyone else here has suffered such a thing and if so, what the remedy was please?

Cheers

Gary

 

[Emtee]

Hi Gary, I had similar on my 4200. The trim is held in place with barbed plastic lugs. Once they've been removed for whatever reason (maybe the microphone for a mobile kit?) the barbs are shot and so the fit isn't as snug. The trim is then able to move slightly and squeaks. Replacement lugs are cheep so I ordered some, but as a quick fix whilst they came I used some blue-tack around each lug to get a higher fit

 

[Gary687]

Hi Miles

Awesome thanks for that info. Looks like a weekend forage is planned for me

Cheers

Gary

 

[RSM Masser]

My 3200 suffered a simialr annoying squeak - turned out to be a loose screw at the bottom of the door pocket - it had popped through the leather and the washer was rattling!
Easy fix - took 12 months to find it!
Also the tweeter was loose by the door handle - it never squeaked but I removed the door panel to fix it and discovered the fault above.

 

[Gary687]

I checked the screw/washer as per RSM and that was all fine so then moved onto Miles' suggestion and I think he was on the money.

The removal of the trim above the window allows access to the screw holding the A-pillar trim on. Once removed, the A-pillar trim comes away easily and there is a single white plastic plug/lug about halfway down that was out of it’s little hole and it will not re-engage so I’m guessing this lack of tension holding the A-pillar trim in place is the root cause of the problem. It looks a little damaged so a replacement might be in order but my question is how do you replace it? It seems there is no access to the white plug to get it out – it must have been put in place pre-the leather covering going on and there’s no way I’m tearing the leather covering off so i’m really note sure what to do next. Miles, if you have any thoughts about such problems then I'd love to hear them!

Oh and the other issue I struggled with (please bear with me as I am a complete biff when it comes to such DIY things) is the replacement of the trim above the window. Again, white plastic clips (4) are to be housed in their respective holes....but I had real trouble finding these locating holes when trying to put the trim back as there is no visual access and the gap is too small for fingers so it ended up being a bit of hopefully lining them up and hitting and hoping. Certainly some found their way in but I’d be amazed if all 4 did so now I’m anticipating even more squeaks ha ha!!

Anyway, any thoughts/advice as to the replacement of said lugs would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers

G

 

[Emtee]

Hi Gary, the replacements were something like 20 pence each, so I wasn't too fussed about just pulling the old ones out. IIRC I might have had to cut the plastic disk on the replacements to push them through the holes, but if you want, you could just carefully widen out the 'barbs' again and re-use the originals without removing them. To help to locate them, and to make sure there was no rattle, I put a ring of blu-tack around the base of each lug where it comes through the hole in the trim. Helps in locating them back into the holes, but then also keeps them snug.

 

[Gary687]

Hi Miles

Thanks so much for that info - great stuff! A job for next weekend now unfortunately as time/other commitments have beaten me this weekend!

Cheers

Gary

 

[Gary687]

OK guys well I've been busy of late and have had a few different attempts at solving this problem over the last couple of weeks but to no avail.

I've lubed lots (!), all contact points where the trim meets, added felt to such surfaces, tightened any and all screw heads etc but unfortunately the saga continues!!

I got the new clips from the Main Dealer - a massive 55c each....with $10 postage would you believe! Only 3 left in the whole country apparently so grabbed all 3.

Turns out the one from the A-pillar was intact after all because it doesn't actually reach the hole to fit in so that was a bit of a waste of time and money ha ha so the search continued....

I stripped the A-pillar and found the little control unit thingamy for the alarm.The wires seemed a little 'out' and they slipped easily back in so I thought that might have been the issue. It wasn't!

Time has been against me so a few days later I re-did it only this time took the whole alarm box off and drove around with the A-pillar bare and no box. The squeak/creak is still there and very much louder without the sound deadening of the A-pillar trim.

Took the rubber seals off around the door and saw a few screw heads that I gave a few extra turns too to tighten up - still there!!!! The sound definitely seems to come from within the actual metalwork of the A-pillar. A torch seems to show nothing is in the A-pillar itself and certainly much pulling, pushing, hitting etc revealed nothing actually loose so now I really am at a loss.

To be honest it's more of a principle thing now - I don't want the noise to beat me!! If I turn the radio up I can't hear it anyway but who wants the radio up when you have the engine sound etc?

Right now though I'm at a loss as to what it might be so if anyone does have any other ideas I'm all ears!!

Cheers

G

 

[Parisien]

Gary, where are you based?


P

 

[Gary687]

Sunny Brisbane

 

[Parisien]

Oh well........must be that never ending dry heat.....


P

 

[Parisien]

With our liquid sunshine and steady 80% humidity these probs don't really occur in Ireland.....


P

 

[Gary687]

Ha ha!! I'll have you know we are in the grip of a harsh winter here in Queensland. I was out this morning at 0500 and it was barely 3 degrees - wooly hat and gloves were the order of the day! Admittedly, by about 0900 it was azure-blue skies and 21 degrees but it was bloomin' cold I can assure you!! I feel a bit of a wimp moaning about it but as a fully-acclimatised Pom these chilly starts remind me of standing on a windswept and freezing cold train station awaiting a never-to-arrive train into London....and highlights how glad I am I'm over here

 

[Parisien]

Shouldn't you be in bed or somesuch Gary..........or do you delivery milk or mail??!!




P

 

[Gary687]

Neither of those things - I get the pleasure of screaming my head off at some unruly, unfit police recruits at the local police academy before they start their day. Talk about the frustrations of dealing with lazy Gen Y!!

 

[conaero]

Next step then is to drive round with the a pillar off and try and prise the metal work or feel where its coming from.

One other thing you might want to try is lubing the end of the dash that meets the door card and the wing mirror where it meets the A pillar in the door shut.

Another thing to try is open the door and see if it goes away?

Oh, and don't crash!

 

[Gary687]

Tried all those things over the last few days unfortunately with no good result....except for one of the suggestions. Haven't tried lubing the wing mirror where it meets the A-pillar in the door so that could be my job for tomorrow. Have to say from sticking my ear against the A-pillar whilst driving (no mean feat I can assure you!!) it does seem to be coming from a mid-point in the pillar. Not sure if this is a case of 'referred noise' or whether it is actually present at that point. Probably find in the end it's a noise in the bloomin' boot!!!!!

Thanks for that

G

 

[conaero]

From memory there are hank nuts (encapsulated fixings) in the A pillar. What might have happened is someone has had it off, it cross threaded and so the hank nut has been pushed in and another one fitted....just like what I did, its not blue with tan is it?...ah no, I see its a 4200.

 

[Parisien]

The dark ages:
Renault 14 TL, Renault 14TS, Renault 11 Electronique, Renault 11GTL, Renault Megane Coupe 1.6ie, Renault Megane Convertible.

Gee Matt.......those were very dark ages......almost caveman days........


P

 

[Gary687]

Thanks for the suggestions guys (I've not even the faintest clue what a 'hank nut' is to be honest but it sounds technical!)

I suspect that when the car was imported, it needs to go through this farcical procedure called 'money for old rope' a.k.a compliancing (previously discussed at length on the Oz section of this wonderful forum) and the dash would have been removed to allow for the fitting of a new kmh speedo. Arguably, as this is a big job I'm led to believe, it could be something to do with that. I've spoken with the previous UK owner (and SM forum member) and he had no such noise so it would all suggest it's a result of a poor re-fitment of 'something' post-compliancing.

Doesn't make it any less annoying though ha ha!