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This is my first post to the forum. Unfortunately it involves a rattle problem.

The car is a 2001 Civic 4 door, a late '01 Canadian built for the US market. The pillar or column on the driver's side has a rattle or a ticking sound when hitting bumps or driving over apparently smooth surfaces which cause the car to vibrate. I first noticed it a few weeks after I bought the car. On cold days it doesn't seem to start immediately after driving, but only after the interior has gotten well heated, after maybe 30 minutes or so. I doesn't do it all the time, but often enough to be annoying, and usually at least at some point during any session of driving the car, ranging from just a slight amount to being fairly persistent. Reluctantly, for fear of permanently loosening up the moulding, I took it to the dealer a couple of months ago to try to have the problem corrected. The dealer road tested it did acknowledge that there was a sound. The moulding was removed and they told me they lubricated, I believe with white lithium grease, whatever is under there, shoulder strap mechanism, I guess, etc. They did say that it was hard to pinpoint exactly what the source of the sound was though. The rattle did come back though, maybe, maybe not as much as originally, but I can still hear it. It is audible with the radio on a normal talk radio volume, since the ticking is so close to the ear.

One thing is that I think I have further isolated the point of the sound. It seems to be right above the top of the notch where the shoulder strap adjustment bar is, about midway between the top of the notch and the top edge of the moulding. When pressure is placed on that spot, with a thumb or hand, the ticking becomes much quieter if not inaudible. Also, when pressure is placed on the top of the adjustment bar the same thing happens. I don't know if the dealer knew about this. The thing is how do you create the effect of that pressure permanently ??? The moulding isn't loose though, the sound is underneath somewhere, probably to do with the moving parts of the adjustment bar. Some have mentioned foam soundproofing. I know the 2k2's have had a lot of soundproofing added, probably because of problems like these.

I read a post a few months ago mentioning a rattle in the driver's side pillar but I haven't seen much else since. There isn't much on the internet either. I really don't want to take the car back to the dealer unless I'm am certain that they can fix it, but it seems like with these kind of problems, they have trouble doing it without a service bulletin. I'm hoping one will be issued. This is my first Honda after always having had domestic cars. Other than this pesky rattle I am basically pleased with the car, so I am hoping that this won't be my last Honda. I get the infrequent buzz around the cassette deck plate area too, but that doesn't bother me.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 
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I've always tried to fix the rattles myself, and have been pretty successful. Check this thread: link

Buy some of that foam pipe insulation tubing Cjcivic talks about. Try to isolate the sound and then see if you can stuff pieces of this tubing into any available gap or space. I've fixed nearly a dozen rattles, squeaks, buzzes in my car with this foam.

Only thing I can't fix is the moonroof rattle, so I'm gonna let the dealer handle that one.