my recent prucehase of a 1997 XK8 convertible has revealed a rattling of the drivers window when covering UK A roads can you tell me if this is normal of this age of car or is there something I can do to fix it

 

This has been covered on our friends on the XKEC forum , if you remove the door card you will probably find that the anti rattle rubber strip has fallen off the inner door frame and is now resident in the bottom of the door !!
Simply glue it back into it's rightful place and all should be well , my theory is that during cold and icy weather the strip freezes to the glass and is pulled off when the glass is lowered or raised ,

Hope this helps ,

Nik

 

Another possible rattle, on the drivers door there is a cadmium plated plate (only on the drivers door) above the door handle mechanism. I believe it keeps the door rods from hitting the glass. There is one bolt, this has also been a problem on quite a few of the forums member cars. When you take the door apart leave the window up it will give you easier access.

 

I had posted on a similar thread about my rattle problem that comes and goes. The couple of times I took the inside door panel off I never saw anything obvious but I had failed to remove the rubber wipes so I really could not see that much. I had intended to try again but the rattle sort of went away on its own, or at least was less prevalent than it had been.

The next time I open the panel I intend on removing the rubber strips to be able to see things better.

On a related subject, there is another annoying slight rattle coming from the console area above the rear view mirror. The weird thing is that this one is temperature related. If it is not too hot outside there is no rattle. But if it is sunny and warm the rattle will come after a few minutes of driving. I can stop it by tweaking around with the overhead console or pulling on the trim piece that goes across the top but then it comes back again.

Doug

 

Mine was the cadium plate. The bolt needed to be snugged 1/8 turn.
Before it sounded like the door would fall off. Now absolutely quiet.

 

Thanks for the information people, I pick up my car at the end of July so will spend part of my summer holiday investigating the rattle and anything else I find, no doubt I will be in touch with more questions

 

Can the next person who opens up their door to deal with a rattle kindly take as many photos as possible to show the innards? I keep hearing about some cadmium plate and have yet to see it. Ditto for the anti-rattle strips, etc. Some better description or photo or sketch as to exactly what these things look like and how to find them would be useful.

Thanks,

Doug

 

This week or the next, I'm planning a bit of an audio upgrade (the speakers arrived yesterday ) I'm going to document it anyway, so I'll take extra pictures of the door innards for you and everyone else.

 

The plate is back and up. Very close to where the outside door handle is.