maddening and persistent dashboard rattle

[cyrus]

Well I thought I would post this and see if anyone has had the same cause of such a persistent dashboard rattle as I have been trying to cure the last few weeks. It has been getting worse and worse, at least on uneven roads, and seemed to be coming from the middle of the dashboard. Speedo out, one glove box removed and after much groping around found nothing obviously loose. Checked bonnet release, bonnet badges, bonnet brace, wiper linkages, hockey sticks, checked steering rack not loose, and checked that no suspension bolts were loose as new poly bushes were recently fitted. Nothing.
Then I started to notice that the rattles got much quieter the harder I cornered. So I grabbed hold of the track rod ends and waggled them. They felt graunchy and rough so I removed them. There didn't really seem play in them as such, they just felt rough and not like a track rod end should feel so I replaced them both. Lo and behold no more rattles.......
I'm still not exactly sure whether it was the track rod ends themselves rattling or whether they were just causing a vibration that set something else off as the sound did seem to come from under the dash. I couldn't replicate the noise no matter what I waggled around under the dash though .........
Peace and quiet at last it was driving me mad

[Monty-4]

Perhaps the rattle was being 'communicated' via the steering rack and shaft to your irritated ears.

I've had something similar happen but that time it was a loose bolt on one of the dampers!

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Yes check all front suspension, steering and body bolts. Also those tie wires behind the glove boxes.

[cyrus]

Yes check all front suspension, steering and body bolts. Also those tie wires behind the glove boxes.

Yes I checked the damper mounting bolts too, first thing I did when I bought the car as it can be a horrible job if the bolts are rusted up, so I pulled them one at a time, greased the bolts and replaced them. As it happened they were still bright and shiny....by tie wires I think you mean the ones for the headlining?
Actually I have a question about those.....when I was waxoyling the car I got a syringe full of the stuff ( thinned down a bit with white spirit ) and applied the syringe all the way down both sides of the headlining into the channel behind. I could just get the nozzle in between the headlining and the channel. Seems to have worked well as the stuff dribbled out a bit both ends. Really I would like to do the same across the front end i.e. top of windscreen. Is it easy to loosen those wires and just pull the headlining back a bit, or is that going to cause a lot of problems with subsequent realignment?

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

You can just carefully push the headlining up, but as this area is not noted for corrosion you’d be better off doing it behind the glove boxes to the windscreen corners on the body, where rust can take a hold. I am surprised you haven’t seen the tie wires behind there, unless someone has removed them.