Hi all,

 

Have had a good look at the other topics but none seem to cover this particular rattle! On my 59 fabia and on the 08 I had previously the top vent squeaks a little bit - not that bad but annoying enough that I want to fix it. I've managed to easily enough pry out the vent covers and the hazard switch (pictured) so I feel like I can't be too far from solving it

 

Has anyone else had this particular rattle? I've a feeling it comes from where the silver lining meets the black frame, can anyone suggest a good fix? 

If you are sure the rattle is coming from this area, try re-fitting the frame with a little electrical insulating tape going around the inner edge of the frame so as to not bee seen and not cover the clip areas. You may need to apply just a little, say on the corners or go all the way round but this may help. You could also try thin foam tape as basically, you are trying to prevent one component rubbing against another.

 

I must say though, if all the clips are intact and it is fitted properly, I am surprised it is this part causing the offence.  You would be surprised just how often dash rattles come down to stuff in either of the glove boxes, or even the door/dash touching or the dash rubbing the chassis, somewhere. 

I've discovered to my dismay that it won't click back in, no matter the amount of pushing, so maybe something was broken in the interior carrier? As that seems to move inward when I push the outer part in! Argh! I'll have to keep trying 

 

I wonder if a special tool is required to pull the interior part forward, maybe a hooked pick would do it... 

The  MK3 is exactly the same, car still under warranty but dealers keep fobbing me off saying can't find the rattle or it's the baby seat in the rear that's causing the issue, but after removing the seat and pointing out the rattle from the vent they wanted us to leave the car with them for a week but did not have another car for us to use so at the moment it's status  quo at the moment  and still waiting on them to sort it out.

A good friend who used to work for Skoda says it can be a wrongly located lug on the vent face from suppliers but did say the whole unit has to be replaced as normally once removed you cannot get the vent face to clip back in properlyas the lugs are on the inner part of the unit and snap off , some people have used a quick set resin glue to bond this vent back in place but rattle still exists,  he also mentioned that the internal direction  fins come loose and these rattle also requiring a whole unit replacement so it seems the rattle is there to last unless you replace the unit 

you have to make sure ALL the catches are lined up, if not it wont go back in,

well, I managed to refit it, phew! I borrowed a 90 degree pick from the garage for 5 minutes and figured it out - it's as follows

 

inside what I'll call the 'carrier' there are 8 small holes. I inserted the pick into the first one, turned it 45 deg clockwise and put the end into the hole. I gently pulled the carrier toward me with the pick as I pushed the outer part on -  it clicked satisfyingly. I repeated for the other 7 and now it's on nice and snug. I don't know if it will have cured the rattle that was there originally but it's a damn sight better than having a totally loose vent!!

 

You may find its actually the small rectangular blanking plate to the left of the climate control unit thats a loose fit and rattling.  A finger on it while its rattling will confirm. Easy to pull out and you will see why its loose and rattles. 

 

That was the issue with my 09 fabia.

thanks xman, I did the finger test on the vent surround and it stopped it rattling, but it seems that now the blanking plate you speak of has a rattle as well! I'll see if I can pry that off and check for anything loose / broken

could also stick it with a little of the stuff they used to call gun- gum (Or dum-dum). Theres a type that won't go hard.