Rattle On Driver's Side Dash

[ekintgen]

Hi,

I recently inherited my father's 1994 LS400, which he loved and babied. His mechanic loved it, it never made any noises or rattles, and was generally an awesome car. He bought a new car and gave it to me, and after a few weeks I noticed a new clicking sound coming from the driver's side dash. It sounds like it's coming from directly above the speedometer gauge, and sounds like it's the plastic flexing. It seems to happen almost randomly - it's not notable when you go over bumps, but you hear it more when you're going up or down hills. It's been driving me absolutely crazy and I'm not sure what to do about it.

It might be worth noting that this car had always been parked inside a garage, and is just now being parked outside for the first time. Also, after a big snow a few weeks back I noticed a large amount of condensation on the inside of the windshield - it was pretty major, and major drops had formed. Not sure if these are related, but I figured I might as well mention them.

I'd appreciate any advice that might help me keep my sanity. Thanks!

[steve2006]

Firstly hello and welcome to the LOC.

Difficult to accurately say what could be causing the noise,have you tried pressing of tapping the top of the dash when the noise is present?Does it do it when the car is stationary or only when driving?

The odometer and speedometer drives are electronic so no mechanical parts to make a noise.

As the car has been kept outside is there a chance leaves or other debris may have entered the air vents and this is now rattling around the ventilation ducting.

No disrespect intended but are you sure the noise is where you say as there have been problems with the glove box door rattling on the series 2 models

If all else fails it may be worth pulling the instrument panel and having a look behind.

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/electrical/instrumentcluster.html