Is hatch rattle really this bad?

[GT_Rich]

Going around turns while on the throttle, or getting on the gas hard above 3500 rpm causes the worst rattle imaginable from the rear of the car. Is this the infamous hatch rattle? When I first got the car, I found a loose quad shock causing a similar rattle, but I can't find any loose suspension components this time around.

I've tried adjusting the hatch stops and striker with no luck. My striker is worn, but you can't buy the 91-93 strikers anymore! Anyways, if someone has a fix for this, or if you think it's something else, I'd love to know!

 

[Deleted member 87397]

Could be your exhaust hitting the frame. That's what mine is doing at the moment. Drives me insane.

 

[dragnazz5.0]

my hatch rattles like a mother. i cant get it to go away either. hopefully subframes will get rid of a little bit

 

[funkytrunk92]

Could be your exhaust hitting the frame. That's what mine is doing at the moment. Drives me insane.

Glad to hear I'm not alone

 

[retro50]

See if the plastic bushing is on the striker bolt. If the bushing is broken off it happens quite a bit then put on a new striker bolt. The parts stores carry new striker bolts with new bushings already installed on them. It is a $5.00 fix. Mine was broken off and the rattle drove me insane. I put on a new striker bolt and the noise is gone.

 

[GT_Rich]

The bushing on my striker bolt has a worn spot on it and could be the culprit(on the 91-93 the bushing is molded around the bolt, NOT seperate pieces). However, I can't find a replacement. Both CJ Pony and 5.0 Resto are saying the part is no longer available. Ford has apparently stopped producing it.

I've checked clearances on my exhaust numerous times. It's as good as it's going to be for being 2.5" pipe. As far as SFC's - I have them and they aren't helping this issue.

 

[Roland69]

I seen a post where someone used a piece of hose or PVC in place of the bushing and they claimed it worked well

 

[bubba-dough]

It could also be the hinges at the top of the hatch. One of mine was bad when we repainted my car a few years ago. No one made one so I had to search the junkyards until I found a good one. Also a lil slop on the striker bolt, a lil slop at the hinge and a lil slop on the stops equals a lot of rattle. But man it can be hard finding the source of noises in a car.

 

[Flavadave4]

I was thinking maybe yor hinge pins and holes are sloppy and rattling around up there, not to mention it would allow the rest to move around.

 

[90_Red_LX]

I found a striker in the Help! section of advance when myn gave out. It rattled and flopped up and down, but once I put the striker in, problem solved. It isn't exactly the same, but it does the job just fine.

 

[DMAN302]

Hatchbacks rattle..small price to pay for all that beer cooler room.

 

[marvizu]

I have pretty bad hatch rattle and I thought it was the exhaust. Turned out to be loose spoiler bolts. the bummer part is that I can't get them to tighten because the plastic where they screw into is broken.

 

[Jaswir]

50resto.com sells new striker latchs for the hatch

 

[PhLoBuS]

My hatch is fine the only thing that makes noise is some goddamn screw or bolt running around crazy in my saleen spoiler

 

[FordRacing302]

All three bushings had came off my striker bolts (doors, hatch) so I had a easy free solution. I just rapped them up in electrical tape until its pretty thick and it works just fine...And when the tape wears out, just cut it off and retape it

 

[larrendeuce]

I'll just add to the possible noises from the rear. The lower brackets hanging from the rear bumper(GT rear bumper cover attaches to this) are riveted on. In my case they came loose and rattled. I removed the rivets and used small bolts to replace them.

 

[rickd93_lx]

i bougt the striker bushing from the help section at oreilly cut off the old one replaced with the new one adjusted the stops and bingo problem fixed you can also buy a new latch wich may hold tighter than your 14 year old latch

 

[postalbunny]

my hatch rattles like a mother. i cant get it to go away either. hopefully subframes will get rid of a little bit

got subframes on... it's just more noticable now because everything else stopped rattling. Now people ask me what the rattle is in the back

 

[poneypower89]

I found a striker in the Help! section of advance when myn gave out. It rattled and flopped up and down, but once I put the striker in, problem solved. It isn't exactly the same, but it does the job just fine.

Same here..

It wasnt EXACTLY what I had.. but it fixed my problem 100%.

I wouldn't worry about finding the correct factory piece... just find a piece that works...