radio rattle and squeak

[oaklifdn]

Does anyone know if Ford has come up with an answer for the squeaks and rattles that seem to happen behind the radio?

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[02 TBRD]

I am very glad that somebody asked this question. I have had this problem since day one, and it only got worse when the top was down and it warmed up. My noise got so bad that I could barely satnd it--I even heard it over the radio.

To my knowledge, Ford does not have an official fix for this problem. However, I am happy to report that at least in my car, I found the problem. The problem is not the radio. In my car the problem was the A/C vents above the radio. I traced the noise myself and finally caught it mid-squeak one day when I pressed on the left lower corner of the vent piece---all this time I had been playing with the radio. I had my dealer put a simple piece of felt around the vent--PROBLEM SOLVED.

Another problem I had was an obnoxious noise coming from the defroster vent---another plastic on plastic sound---but this one was worse than the radio. The dealer solved this problem by ordering a new defroster vent and insulating that with the same felt. So far, so good.

Surely there must be others out there who have heard these noises. Am I in the major minority?

 

[thaser]

I have had no problems with squeaks, etc. My car is #17889 so maybe they fixed that problem at the factory. For example, I'm pretty sure that the seat belt recall will not apply to my car because they caught the problem before my car was built. I'll also mention that the stereo system in my T-bird far surpassed my expectations -- I am very happy with it. Of course, I'm sure glad I don't have a squeaking sound.

 

[AKBirdie]

I, too had the rattle in the "radio". Mine was not in the A/C vent above the radio, but rather in the upper right corner of the radio. If only 1 - 2 pounds of pressure was applied to the corner of the radio the rattle disappeared. If pressure was applied to the adjacent corner of the vent with great force, the rattle remained. The dealer placed some foam material behind the radio and the rattle was gone.

I have the same defrost vent rattle from time to time. I yet have not taken the car in for a repair. Once again only a minor push on the vent stops the rattle for the rest of the trip. It almost sounds like a fragment of plastic is vibrating against the plastic vent.