Rattle from rear of 04 wagon

I know chasing down these kind of noises can be frustrating and this one is no exception.
Running over my gravel road it will occur, although it is inconsistent.
It almost never happens when on the highway.
This is a lighter sound, not really a clunk.
My 02 wagon had a similar noise that turned out to be the lower shock mount bolt which had a tiny bit of play that caused the rattle, which I remedied with some black tape wrapped around the bolt.
I have replaced rear shocks, springs and mounts [they were due].
The only thing left back there are the axle beam bushings and the car handles fine with no twitchy behavior.
From what little I can see of them they appear to have tiny cracks in the rubber but they appear to still be intact.
Could worn bushings "rattle"or would they make a "heavier" sound?
Any other advice or ideas?

Mine was similar, not a real heavy sound. After replacing a few parts it turned out to be the wheel bearing.

boisebiker said:

Mine was similar, not a real heavy sound. After replacing a few parts it turned out to be the wheel bearing.

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Did it rattle continuously or intermittently?
I would think a wheel bearing would be a steady sound.

Wheel bearings make a drone or a low-frequency humming noise, accentuated when turning the car into whatever side the bad bearing is on. This is true for the rears, anyway. IIRC the opposite is true for the fronts but don't quote me on that.
The upper shock mounts can make the clicking noise. I too had this and it turned out the be that stupid bolt on the lower shock mount in the bushing and nothing I could do would get rid of it. I tried tape, that eventually wore through and it came back. Another thing you could do is stick your head under there and have someone step on and off the rear bumper to see if you can track it down.

sisyphus said:

Wheel bearings make a drone or a low-frequency humming noise, accentuated when turning the car into whatever side the bad bearing is on. This is true for the rears, anyway. IIRC the opposite is true for the fronts but don't quote me on that.
The upper shock mounts can make the clicking noise. I too had this and it turned out the be that stupid bolt on the lower shock mount in the bushing and nothing I could do would get rid of it. I tried tape, that eventually wore through and it came back. Another thing you could do is stick your head under there and have someone step on and off the rear bumper to see if you can track it down.

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I have bounced on the bumper and can't reproduce the sound.

From my experience rattles in the back on a mk4 wagon are either exhaust system hitting something, like heat shields or axle, or it is the upper shock mounts.

fruitcakesa said:

I know chasing down these kind of noises can be frustrating and this one is no exception.

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I'm subscribing as I have a clunk in the rear of my Golf I can't find. I'd like to hear if there's any new ideas. (I've searched to death on here and didn't find much). It's somewhat infrequent, so it's easy to live with at the moment.

I've decided to just leave it for now as I've run out of ideas to check.

Rembrant said:

I'm subscribing as I have a clunk in the rear of my Golf I can't find. I'd like to hear if there's any new ideas. (I've searched to death on here and didn't find much). It's somewhat infrequent, so it's easy to live with at the moment.

I've decided to just leave it for now as I've run out of ideas to check.

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This is what I have been doing for the past year

fruitcakesa said:

This is what I have been doing for the past year

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I think the only way to further diagnose mine now would be to get somebody to drive my Golf while I ride in the hatch (maybe with my stethoscope?...lol), and repeatedly drive over bumps that cause the clunk.

OP: i have the same rattle in my 03 wagon.... Its a light rattle sound, it seems to come from the passenger side rear. I have checked the upper shock mounts. Ive crawled under and cant find anything. It is very annoying.

Millennium Falcon said:

OP: i have the same rattle in my 03 wagon.... Its a light rattle sound, it seems to come from the passenger side rear. I have checked the upper shock mounts. Ive crawled under and cant find anything. It is very annoying.

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That is it exactly!

Don't know if your wagon has one but the tray on top of the spare tire has some compartments with stuff in them. If you hit a bump big enough it'll move around, so will the spare tire if it's unsecured. Just a last-ditch suggestion.

Yes it has the tray with jack&tire and stuff... I have checked it but maybe I will remove everything and see if the rattle goes away...

sisyphus said:

Don't know if your wagon has one but the tray on top of the spare tire has some compartments with stuff in them. If you hit a bump big enough it'll move around, so will the spare tire if it's unsecured. Just a last-ditch suggestion.

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That was the first thing I looked at.

Rem and I have been talking about this...

Daughter's wagon (2003) is making a noise in what I would say is the right rear. I just replaced EVERYTHING (suspension refresh- new shocks, mounts, dust covers, springs, bump stops, rear axle bushings and all new bolts). Shocks are Koni Reds.

I believe I also have a similar noise (same location) on my blue Golf. It Bilstein sports, about 60k miles on them.

No such noises on the wife's Golf, which has almost 190k miles on the original Sachs shocks! (nothing to give resistance to! it's in dire need of a suspension refresh)

My car I'd though had a noise, but my exhaust was totally gone so I think it's been the exhaust that made any noise that I might have thought could be the suspension. Full suspension refresh this last Spring. Koni STRTs.

I wasn't able to drive the wagon with everything from the back removed. Pretty sure, however, that it's not anything inside the car.

Did you check the rear hatch? Are the support struts secure? The threaded studs can sometimes come loose; 13mm open end wrench to tighten them.

JB05 said:

Did you check the rear hatch? Are the support struts secure? The threaded studs can sometimes come loose; 13mm open end wrench to tighten them.

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Mine were loose, but that was a while back and I since tightened them.

fruitcakesa said:

Mine were loose, but that was a while back and I since tightened them.

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Mine were loose as well. I was quite excited when I found them like that...I thought I had found the cause of the clunk. Oh well...I tightened them up, greased the sockets on both ends, and the clunk remained.

Has anyone checked their lower shock mount holes on the chassis?* Wondering whether they're wearing (increasing in size). I don't recall seeing the old bolts (recent work on the wagon) as being worn/grooved; also didn't note the holes having any signs of problems- didn't really look either.

* One would have to remove the bolt to really look.

Any chance that this could be spring related? Perhaps springs that have been lost some of their length (and or poorly spec'd replacements)? For some reason the new Simplex springs I got for the wagon struck me as being shorter (though I just kind of shrugged things off; didn't bother to measure).

It's amazing how many of these threads are out there and there is NEVER a resolution!

Likely going to take putting one of these cars on a lift and really going over things.

UhOh said:

It's amazing how many of these threads are out there and there is NEVER a resolution!

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It is a bit frustrating to say the least.

I've seen a few rear clunk solutions on Vortex that I have not tried yet.

However, it has to be noted that when reading those threads it may not always be mentioned, but one has to assume they're running at least 18" wheels that are likely stuffed into the fenders so hard they're rubbing on the liners. (And the belly of the car is dragging on the pavement). So, they're often driving around with very little suspension travel.

I did read where one Golf owner placed thin rubber gaskets between the rear shock mounts and the body, and that cured his rear clunks. I read where another guy jammed a rubber block of some kind between the exhaust and body. He claimed that on harsh bumps his exhaust was clunking against his rear axle beam. The exhaust hangers were fine, and like my own Golf...shaking/kicking the exhaust with the car parked makes no sound at all. However, on harsh bumps, the exhaust and axle moved enough that the would "clunk" randomly. What wasn't clear was if the car was lowered or not...and I assume it was because VWVortex. Not sure if that's even worth looking at on my stock ride height Golf.

Mine ONLY clunks when driving about 30 mph and I hit a sharp UP bump. If I go over the bump slower, it doesn't happen.

Other than that one issue, which is random/infrequent, my Golf is as tight as a drum on the road, with little to no rattles and clunks. (As rattle free as a 14 year old Mk4 can be I guess...lol. What's "tight" to me would likely feel bloody awful to somebody with a new car).

I'm not chasing my clunk currently. I'll have a look again in the spring when the weather is better, but I'm still following along here waiting for some new revolutionary idea.

I had a front end clunk that I later discovered was from a broken spring. Don't know if the rears are prone to breakage. I had to jack up the car to see it since it was the bottom most coil. Replaced them with VR6 springs.

figured it out.....broken rear spring!

Update beta

I jacked up the right rear again and this time pulled the lower mount bolt and
lo and behold, the bolt is way smaller.
I measured the holes in the mount and shock and they are about .390+- in.
The bolt, which was an oem part was .356+- in.
I had nothing in my shop that fits so I wrapped the bolt in black tape[not the first time I have done this} and put it back on.
When I go to town to look for a bolt I will give it a test drive; I am fairly sure that this is the problem but I am not counting my chickens yet

Fixed

Rattle gone, new, larger bolts are the answer.
M10 1.50X90MM

My daughter just acquired a Beetle from Arizona. She had a clunk coming from what sounded like the rear wheel well. I changed out the shocks and checked everything making sure it was all tight. She still had the clunk. I tore off the interior trim thinking that it was something in there. Not that either. Finally I took the shock back off and checked the top strut mount. This is what I found.

This is the upper shock mount. Where my pen is sticking through the hole is where the top of the shock bolts to. If you look down in there you will see a rubber bushing. I didn't even know those mounts had a bushing. This bushing is so worn I can easily move it around with my finger or the pen. If I shake the mount I can feel,the bushing move. This bushing so be so tight you don't even realize it's a rubber bushing.
I changed the shock mount out and the clunk is gone.

Tdijarhead said:

My daughter just acquired a Beetle from Arizona. She had a clunk coming from what sounded like the rear wheel well. I changed out the shocks and checked everything making sure it was all tight. She still had the clunk. I tore off the interior trim thinking that it was something in there. Not that either. Finally I took the shock back off and checked the top strut mount. This is what I found.

This is the upper shock mount. Where my pen is sticking through the hole is where the top of the shock bolts to. If you look down in there you will see a rubber bushing. I didn't even know those mounts had a bushing. This bushing is so worn I can easily move it around with my finger or the pen. If I shake the mount I can feel,the bushing move. This bushing so be so tight you don't even realize it's a rubber bushing.
I changed the shock mount out and the clunk is gone.

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My upper mounts are new.

fruitcakesa said:

My upper mounts are new.

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I saw that, and I see you found your solution. Which is some good work, undersized bolts could be easily overlooked. It probably means someone broke one or both of the bolts previously and just put in whatever they happened to have laying around.

I also saw some of the other guys are chasing similar clunks and thunks so I thought I'd post what I had found.

I have the same rattle on my 2003 wagon from the passenger side rear of my car. I have taken most everything out of the rear, but the rattle remains. I will check the rear springs and shock bolts.

I checked the read PS shock bolts and the rear PS spring. The bolts are tight and the spring is not broken. Any other idea on what could be causing the rattle? The rear shocks have been replaced. I didn't replace the top mounts on the shocks.

Check those top mounts.