Having solved the no brake lights problem I thought I would post our fault list so far.

We purchased the 1.3 Felicia X Reg new and have done 20,000 miles or so.

1, Front wipers intermittent, new wiper motor fitted.

2, Loud ticking from drivers dash, new speedo fitted at 10,000 miles, fault returned.

3, Low water temp reading, new thermostat fitted, £50+.

4, Broken rear exhaust box.

5, Loud rattling under passenger seat, new center exhaust box fitted, something rattling inside. Problem still exists. Same loud metallic rattling under passenger seat on poor bumpy road surfaces. Garage could not hear anything on a test drive but was there on the trip home. Very worring this in case something drops off.

6, Numerous central door locks changed but some still don't work properly.

7, Rear brake light switch replaced.

This has been quite a reliable car but all the numerous problems, rattles and squeaks that are appearing are becoming a nuisance.

The current value is so low it's not worth part exchanging so were stuck with the problems.

If anyone has an idea what is likely to cause the loud metallic rattle which appears to be under the car beneath or slightly in front of the passenger seat would be a great help.

If I bang the CAT it seems to induce a loud clatter, this is why the garage changed the center exhaust box but the fault returned.

Question is, is the CAT breaking up inside.

How much dismantling is needed to get access to the speedo cable to change it.

Marion

Speedo cable needs detaching on top of the transmission (screw cap) in the engine bay, nothing to remove here but it is a bit of a squeeze to get your hands in, i finally managed to get mine unscrewed with a lot of WD40 and some mole-grips.

Inside the car, the instrument panel needs to come out with a few screws here and there hidden behind various places and then unclip the speedo cable from the instrument panel as it becomes accessible and pull it through from the engine bay. I also had to take the steering wheel off on mine to remove the dash, luckily it isn't airbag. It is quite a fiddely job but it eventually got sorted

Not sure if this is quite the same on the newer felicias, mine is the 96 pre facelift version. The best thing to do is get the haynes manual. It helped me a lot to do mine. Without the Haynes manual I would be hopeless at this sort of thing. Hope this helps, not sure about the rattling noise though

i would think banging the cat is not a good idea keep banging it and i would think it will break up inside , as for the loud rattle under passenger seat i think i would want another mechanic perhaps another garage to inspect the car , i have a t reg 1.3 felicia not had it long my speedo is just starting to make a ticking sound as well i would think it may be lacking lubrication i dont know how to rectify the problem as i have not tried yet but i will need to do it soon .

My car suffered from a banging and rattling underneath which was due to loose baffles in the rear exhaust box. Could the rattle you are hearing could be coming from the metal heat shield mounted above the cat?