we have now finished the first refurbishment step on the 2003 XK8 Coupe with replacement of the Cooling Tower, Water Pump, Belt and new Dex-Cool coolant. Will wait until warmer weather to change the Transmission filter & Fluid and R/E (Drill & install plug). We have a rattle in the right rear area that sounds like a loose shock mount in a regular auto. It sounds like area near the center of the right rear seat. Read posts regarding the lower rear bushing, 3rd brake light; as well as the emergency brake and disc pad noises, but they are clear on how to locate and test for those. How can one test for the upper isolator mount (MMD 3565 AA) being bad? Are there videos on changing the REAR shocks and springs? Thought we saw procedure that loosened the knuckle some from its mount, (Marked the position of the bolt head for later alignment) and removed assembly from car to swap parts on bench. Does the upper isolator come with the new shock package? Any help will be appreciated.

 

kstevus, Yes the new shock bushing come with the shock, but the mount bushing does not. We found the mount bushing to be in good shape when Jon89 and I did his, He did a great write up, which it sounds like you read. His turned out to be the shock itself was bad. If we can help at all, give either one of us a PM.


Wayne

 

The inner rear brake pad has a spring rivited to it , this is mounted into the caliper piston. This spring regularly shears off the pad and allows to pad to rattle around. Particularly anoying at low speed with the roof down!

This is also the cheapest fix for a rear rattle, just a set of new rear pads, so I would check for this before commiting to bushes and shocks.

 

I'm betting on a bad right rear shock. As Wayne stated above, we had to deal with this back in October. The constant rattling was driving my wife nuts (it's her car). An internal valve snaps off inside the shock and that's what you're hearing as it rattles around the cylinder. Speed never mattered. As long as the car was moving more than about 10 miles per hour, it was constantly audible. The only way to drive the car without hearing the rattle was to put the top down. The wind noise then drowned it out....

The only proper fix is to replace both rear shocks. I found the best deal on a pair of Bilstein shocks at FCP Euro in late September. Good luck with your issue....

 

Thanks Jon, will remove the shock and shake it to verify the noise. If no noise, maybe the top packings are "shot" One way or another the problem will be eliminated.

 

I put up with a similar rattle in my 03 XK8 for way too long. Replacement of the lower bushings cured it. A bit of a chore, but I wish I'd done it much earlier.

Mike

 

Finished replacement of rear shocks today but no chance to drive and ck for rattle. Had to replace shocks since the lower bolts was seized in each one. Just cut the shock eyes into and cut the bushing and tube to remove. Did not appear the upper pads or the lower bushing were bad, but will drive and see if rattle is still there. Could be a rear muffler isolator? All the tips were very helpful.

 

Problem Solved, After new rear shocks, there is no noise from the rear area. Even with the worn sway bar link and rear most muffler hanger not replaced yet, it is quite. Did not find evidence of bad top isolators or lower bushings, but "NO NOISE" is proof enough for me.