[Delreg]

I have a bad feeling that the dealer is going to say, "Well, we can't figure out what it is" OR "We didn't hear it" (which would be a lie, because it's pretty constant). And, if they can't figure out what it is, then they're probably just think that they can let it go, and I'll be happy with that answer. No. Not gonna happen.

Make the service manager or whomever is writing up the service paperwork go for a ride with you.

 

[david_ak]

FIXED! Thank you guys for posting about your squeak! Thank you thank you!

It was starting to drive me crazy a well, just like a foam cup. I didn't even think to look around the passenger side dash. The squeak sure sounded like it was coming from the back seat and I one point I thought it was the middle seat latch (the same problem that plagues the Q5 and Q7). So here's the fix that worked for me:

Remove the bottom panel under the passenger side dash. It's held in place by three torx screws. This is the panel with the light attached. In the back of the panel there are two plastic L brackets (for lack of a better term) that slide into two metal bracket openings against the firewall. The one on the right side had felt but it was bunched up, the left didn't have any felt. The plastic rubbing against the metal was causing the squeak and I easily replicated the sound while troubleshooting. I covered both metal openings with new felt, reassembled, and took for a test drive. I tried every bad road in my area tonight and no squeaks! My Treg is whisper quiet again and I owe it to you all! Thanks!

Under Dash - Club Touareg Photo Gallery


Under Dash - Club Touareg Photo Gallery

 

[Delreg]

FIXED!
Remove the bottom panel under the passenger side dash. It's held in place by three torx screws. This is the panel with the light attached. In the back of the panel there are two plastic L brackets (for lack of a better term) that slide into two metal bracket openings against the firewall. The one on the right side had felt but it was bunched up, the left didn't have any felt. The plastic rubbing against the metal was causing the squeak and I easily replicated the sound while troubleshooting. I covered both metal openings with new felt

Wow nice find ! I bet that could be it, will check out that area in mine tomorrow morning and see if I can replicate by pushing around on that panel, if yes then I will remove it this weekend and see if the felt is there or not....

 

[david_ak]

Good luck. BTW: it's 39F here, so the Treg is plenty cold. I think it's only the second time I've seen the snowflake come on and chime to warn me.

 

[CADman_ks]

Make the service manager or whomever is writing up the service paperwork go for a ride with you.

I was fortunate enough that I was able to locate mine BEFORE I went in there, and I was also able to come up with a scenario that would duplicate the sound sitting still, in the dealership, so no test drive was needed.

 

[CADman_ks]

Good luck. BTW: it's 39F here, so the Treg is plenty cold. I think it's only the second time I've seen the snowflake come on and chime to warn me.

That snowflake scares ya the first time that it happens, doesn't it!

I'm looking down at the dash trying to figure out what the error message is, and what I should be doing about, and there's nothing there. Oh GREAT! At first, I'm thinking that it's some kind of phantom code, and then I see out of the corner of my eye a little snowflake jumping up and down like a jack russell terrier and I realize that it's warning me that the roads could be slick.

Still scares me sometimes. Haven't quite gotten used to it yet...

 

[LocoLobo]

Re:snowflake....yeah my Treg paranoia always kicks in when I hear the Ding and see something flashing on the dash...

I bet Siberian's thinks something is wrong when his ISN'T on!!

 

[Dietch]

I was fortunate enough that I was able to locate mine BEFORE I went in there, and I was also able to come up with a scenario that would duplicate the sound sitting still, in the dealership, so no test drive was needed.

So, did you get it silenced? Was it in the same place as DavidAK? Nice job, btw, david, I'll be checking into fixing mine this weekend!



The snowflake...yes, I think I would like to turn this off, it is going to be very hard to get used to that ding 3 minutes into the drive And... I mean... Really? Dinging because its cold? REALLY?

 

[Delreg]

Remove the bottom panel under the passenger side dash. It's held in place by three torx screws. This is the panel with the light attached.

So I checked this morning and this is the source of my annoying creaking, you are a genius thank you for finding that , you saved us all many hours of grief and possible return visits to dealerships !

What you discovered under that panel really tells me that VW found out late in the game that they had a squeak issue and rigged a quick fix. Wrapping felt around a metal on plastic contact point is a bodge. The fact that it was on there when you opened the panel and some of it had scrunched up to allow contact totally makes sense with why I did not hear it until recently. I wonder if this was just a certain batch of vehicles or if all 2011/12 Touaregs have this ? I hope the whole dash assembly is not put together this way !
Anyway it sounds like VW knew they had an issue and tried to do a quick fix that is not working out.

I will be downloading and printing out your picts so I can show the dealership when I bring it in, I will live with the squeak for now since I don't want them to accuse me of causing the issue and voiding the warranty repair

Thanks again !

 

[CADman_ks]

So, did you get it silenced? Was it in the same place as DavidAK? Nice job, btw, david, I'll be checking into fixing mine this weekend!

...

I haven't had a chance to check mine yet. I'm planning on checking it this weekend. I can't decide what I should do, IF I do find that this is the problem. I"ll probably fix it myself, as opposed to letting the dealership do it, because it's annoying. Who knows when VW will issue a fix, if ever.

If I do fix it, I'm not going to let the dealership know that I did, in case there's more to this than this fix. I still would like them to fix it "right" whatever that may be.

 

[Dietch]

OK! Yesterday I THINK I fixed mine. I am slow to say its completely fixed, but yesterday I took the same panel off as david_ak suggested. Now, unlike his, the felt on my "u joint" was in place, so I didnt think mine was coming from the metal U and the plastic J...but as I was down there, I noticed one panel of the dash and one of the center console had little rub marks on them. Rubbing those together recreated the sound. I had it into the dealer, and they thought it was above that, part of the upper dash and console. They had stuffed foam tape in there, so I pulled some of that out and squeezed it into the correct spot.

As of now, it is completely silent again! Ill take some pictures and add them to the discussion.

Obviously, us working together to figure out these "little things" is far superior to handing it over to someone else to find!

 

[CADman_ks]

More on the "fix"...

THANKS to david_ak for coming up with the process and the original pics!

I was able to do this fix to ours today, and this is indeed what the issue was with mine.

However, I fixed mine a little bit differently. I had some thin (about 1/8" thick) foam tape that I wrapped around the bottom of the tang.

BUT, while I was wrapping the foam around mine, I noticed that my inner one (the one closest to the hump) was actually broke! See the pic below. That lead to a whole other set of problems. I could NOT get the plastic glued back together with any type of super glue. I have never had super glue fail on plastic, but it wouldn't touch this stuff whatever it was.

I also took a pic from the bottom, under the panel after installation, so that you can see what it looks like.

I'm a little bit skeptical how long mine will last, since one of mine is broken. However, in looking at it, I think that it would pretty easy to make some aluminum or 1/8" thick plexiglass pieces that could be bolted on in place of the piece that's broke, if it comes to that. I don't really see how VW would go about fixing this, WITHOUT changing this piece, and it's attached to a bazillion things under there, and the whole dash would most likely need to come out. I don't know if it's worth it to fix that. That would probably cause more problems in the long run.

Thanks again david_ak!!!

 

[Fourdiesel]

re: super glue on these parts. I've found a product called Q-Bond that is an instant glue plus a powder. So far, it works amazingly well on stuff like this.
One of the plastic engine cover panels (the one right behind the hood latch that the other panels plug into) was badly broken when I got the car) my favorite local body shop told me about Q-Bond and put it together for me and it holds very well. I later got some myself from a local auto paint store (about $13 for a very small kit!) and used it on plastic tabs on the console.
You put the parts together just like you would with superglue and sprinkle on some of the black powder they provide. The powder provides the reinforcement you need in this application.
Beats heck out of buying a new plastic part at VW prices!

 

[CADman_ks]

re: super glue on these parts. I've found a product called Q-Bond that is an instant glue plus a powder. So far, it works amazingly well on stuff like this.
One of the plastic engine cover panels (the one right behind the hood latch that the other panels plug into) was badly broken when I got the car) my favorite local body shop told me about Q-Bond and put it together for me and it holds very well. I later got some myself from a local auto paint store (about $13 for a very small kit!) and used it on plastic tabs on the console.
You put the parts together just like you would with superglue and sprinkle on some of the black powder they provide. The powder provides the reinforcement you need in this application.
Beats heck out of buying a new plastic part at VW prices!

Hummm...

I think that they had something called that at the hardware store when I was buying super glue, but I didn't think that I needed it because super glue has always worked. If this thing does finally break, maybe I'll have to look into this stuff.

Thanks for the heads up!!!

 

[Dietch]

OK! Yesterday I THINK I fixed mine. I am slow to say its completely fixed, but yesterday I took the same panel off as david_ak suggested. Now, unlike his, the felt on my "u joint" was in place, so I didnt think mine was coming from the metal U and the plastic J...but as I was down there, I noticed one panel of the dash and one of the center console had little rub marks on them. Rubbing those together recreated the sound. I had it into the dealer, and they thought it was above that, part of the upper dash and console. They had stuffed foam tape in there, so I pulled some of that out and squeezed it into the correct spot.

As of now, it is completely silent again! Ill take some pictures and add them to the discussion.

Obviously, us working together to figure out these "little things" is far superior to handing it over to someone else to find!

Here are the promised pics:

At the top, you can see where the dealer thought it was. Underneath, you can see the stuffed in tape from me that actually fixed it. I'll clean it up at some point with fresh foam tape, but here it is, hope it helps if your clips under the dash are fine, like mine were.

 

[CADman_ks]

Here are the promised pics:

At the top, you can see where the dealer thought it was. Underneath, you can see the stuffed in tape from me that actually fixed it. I'll clean it up at some point with fresh foam tape, but here it is, hope it helps if your clips under the dash are fine, like mine were.

Well, the fix the for the lower panel DID indeed help me, but mine is still rattling somewhere else, BUT, it's not as bad as it was before I fixed the lower panel.

After seeing your post, I thought that this might be the other source of my squeaks, and unfortunately, it's not. In fact, when I look at that area that where you put the foam, my panels don't even touch there, and there is no evidence of rubbing at all.

Mine still appears to be coming from the upper dash area. When I push on that outer panel with the door open, I can hear it squeaking there. But there's not really anywhere that I can put foam or anything in there. There's not really enough gap there.

I'll keep looking...

 

[JP6544]

cadman, i just got a 2013 that has that sound near that spot. Open front passenger door and at the end of the glovebox there is a panel of plastic. I push, poke whatever it makes noise. Today I'm driving a loaner while they add the tow package, and it (the loaner has a very lite rattle in the same spot. Minor but a nag. This sound comes from the front when in the passenger seat, and seems really close to that column.

 

[CADman_ks]

cadman, i just got a 2013 that has that sound near that spot. Open front passenger door and at the end of the glovebox there is a panel of plastic. I push, poke whatever it makes noise. Today I'm driving a loaner while they add the tow package, and it (the loaner has a very lite rattle in the same spot. Minor but a nag. This sound comes from the front when in the passenger seat, and seems really close to that column.

Oddly, mine just kind of went away. The dealer did something to it when I had it in for service, but I don't know for sure what they did, IF ANYTHING.

After that, though, it was better, so I assumed that they did something. Shortly after that, we noticed that it had all but gone away. Now, about the only time that we hear it is when we go over something like rough railroad tracks, and that's perfectly acceptable with me.

If I listen closely, I can still hear it every now and then when driving, but it's not near the annoyance that it once was...

 

[early74B]

Once again this forum comes to the rescue!

One of the things about car ownership with the advent of forums like these is the huge wealth of info from owners out there; sometimes quite opinionated but always interesting and at many times helpful!

In any case, I just took delivery (this past Saturday) of a '13 T-Reg VR6 Sport w/navi; have the light Cornsilk interior (with Night Blue same as at least one other who posted here) and after a few days of driving it's got a similar noise coming from the passenger side. I tried the remove everything from the glove box, leave the glove box door open or hold it/push on it, etc. to see if the noise stops --- its not excessive but annoying just the same as to how quiet the car is. Interestingly enough, before buying it I took it for a short test drive (had only 24 miles on it) over a fairly bumpy road and no noises --- regardless, will check the lower pass' side dash panel to see if that's where the noise is coming from and will report back here as well. Perhaps this is worse with colder temps, perhaps not but we'll see.

The truck has been otherwise perfect but only 130 miles into ownership --- would have thought VW would have fixed this as I see how old this thread is but at least we're not alone on this; last 'funny' point is that a QA/QC (can't remember exactly) inspection paper (similar to what you might see in a suit) was laying in the driver door storage well so perhaps VW needs to add this to their check list!

 

[JP6544]

My squeaks are coming from the fuse panel cover on the passenger side. I took it off, no squeaks, put it on it was quiet for a couple of days. I didn't see an easy way to solve this.