Maybe rattle isn't the best description. It doesn't sound like a metal rattle. It is more like non-mechanical parts rubbing against one another;like something is loose in the dashboard. It occurs in cold weather and warm, but only when when moving and driving over the usual bumps and seams in the road. I've shaken and pounded the dashboard, emptied the glove box and the console, but can't replicate the sound whenmy cat is standing still. And here is what drives me nuts: I hear the noise only for the first mile or so, almost as if warming up the car makes a difference. Does warming up make a difference, as far as rubber and plastic parts are concerned? Or,maybe thenoise could still be there but road noise is masking it.

I asked the tech at the dealer's shop to check it out. He couldn't hear it, he said. Yeah, well, the car was warm.

Does something in the cabin need graphite or silicon spray? Or does my 2001 XK8 just not like waking up?

 

Ifyour xk8 isa convertible, lubricate the two posts on the top of the windshieldalong with the locking latch that the top locks into.

 

Good suggestion campeon. Moreso in the winter, but if the top is up, when I drive it on the highway, I can hear the top actually 'creaking', but I am sure that is not what you are hearing. summer time I hear nothing from the top.

I had my airbag come loose from my steering wheel once, techs thought my rattle sound was the wood panel vibrating since they had just replaced the steering column, but only after the right side of the airbag actually came apart, and the thing tightened back up, did my rattle go away. Hold your airbag when driving and making noise, see if that is the culprit.

 

Lubricating the posts and latch made no difference. I hear the rattle/squeakwith top up and top down.

 

Maybe the defrost vent?