Rattles + Maitence Light.

Ok, I could be paranoid or something, but I just noticed my maintence light stays on and blinks for about 20 seconds after the car is turned on, and it never did that before.. Does that mean I should take it in and get it checked out or something?

Also, I have a rattle in the back of my car, it sounds like something is hitting metal or plastic agianst metal, and I can't figure out what it is. I had taken my rear seats out, the back panel of my car (where the 6x9 speakers are), and it still does it, checked out the bottom of my car and nothing is loose, I'm like outta ideas, I think it might be the suspension, but I'm not quite sure how to check. Also the sound only occurs when I hit a large bump, or multiple little ones.

Anyone help me out here?

Maintenance light is easy (as long as it's not the Check Engine light)... Maintenance Light is really only a timer that should be reset when you get your oil change. I think it automatically comes on after 5000? miles... Anyhow, as long as all your general maintenance is current (oil changes, tire rotations, etc.) then you have nothing to worry about. It's only there to remind you to do those things. If everything is ok, then the last time you had work done, they didn't reset it. You can, and here is how:

First, these instructions are in your owners manual if you ever forget.

Second, turn the car off, and press and hold in your "reset" button on your dash... The one that resets your triptik.

Third, turn your ignition to "on"

Finally, Continue holding the reset button until the light stops flashing (I think its like 5 or 10 seconds)

Let go, and your all set! I do my own oil, so I do this often, don't lose any sleep over it!

Weee, Ok, so not paranoid anymore, now about those damn rattles, anyone have any ideas of what it could be? x-x; Its annoying as all hell.

I don't do rattles... lol sorry!

if its coming from the rear, I would say its probably the rear deck.

if it was a suspension part, it would probably make more of a clunking noise than a rattling noise. rattling usually means some sort of interior or body panel. or just **** in your trunk

Do you have junk in the trunk?

Alright, I couldn't resist... lol

Lol, nahh, I removed everything from my truck except my spare tire, all the lining panels, the crapy floor cardboard thing, everything, and I also removed the rear deck, still does it. Someone told me that since its leather it might rub and cause it to sound like something is rattling, but I've never heard that before in my life.

Still without a clue.

Checkthe jack in the trunk and mae sure the spare is bolted tight.
After a lot of bumps, the jack & tools can come loose.

blacknight said:

Checkthe jack in the trunk and mae sure the spare is bolted tight.
After a lot of bumps, the jack & tools can come loose.

Click to expand...

OMG, I couldn't believe myself when I found it. I was so pissed lol...

Removed -EVERYTHING- in the trunk now even the spare and the sound still continues. Also before I had removed everything except for the spare tire, his includes the jack, jack tools, side trunk panels, and the bottom cardboard mat thing.

Also, I found a small minor rattle thats been annoying me, turned out to be the center rear seatbelt, removed it and the smaller sound stopped, but its still making the loud clunking noise.