Rolling marble sound from rear area

[JBDive]

This has just recently started and the only thing that has changed in my Liberty is Jeep did the hitch inspection due to recall.

When making a somewhat hard left or right turn I get a rolling marble sound coming from the rear end somewhere. It's clearly metal on metal sound. Sometimes this sound ends with a very metal sound of a bar moving.

I placed magnets on the hitch and the rear door panel in hopes if it was a nut or something the magnets would catch it and I could then determine where the sound is located. Put somebody in the rear hatch area and they swear it is coming from directly under the Jeep. Again the sound is long and side to side as if something is moving from one side of the Jeep to the other. I can think of nowhere other than the hitch or gate that could even start to allow something to move more than a few inches left to right. the metal bar sound at the very end really concerns me over it just annoying me.

 

[CactusJacked]

My first thought too was a nut rolling around inside the hitch bar. The bar on my Mopar hitch (not a recall model) is open on the sides, so anything in there would roll right out. But does yours have end caps, and if so can you remove them and go fishing with a wire, or take it for another drive? A magnet was a good idea, but I don't see that stopping a rolling nut, unless luck has it coming to rest right at that spot.

 

[JBDive]

My first thought too was a nut rolling around inside the hitch bar. The bar on my Mopar hitch (not a recall model) is open on the sides, so anything in there would roll right out. But does yours have end caps, and if so can you remove them and go fishing with a wire, or take it for another drive? A magnet was a good idea, but I don't see that stopping a rolling nut, unless luck has it coming to rest right at that spot.

Factory hitch so yes it's open on either end. My thought was maybe it was something that just couldn't wiggle out the end holes. Magnet should catch anything if they are strong enough, they may not be, strongest that Lowes had. I've got some additional rare earth ones to try but I'm thinking I need one of those 50-100 lb pull ones to truly get enough pull through the body metal.

As I said the sound of a bar, much like dropping a socket extension bar on the ground, really concerns me. Can't think of anything mechanical back there that could do that and there seems to be no change in driving. Hate to go around a curve and find my rear end goes straight while me and the rest of the Jeep goes around the corner.

There's nothing inside the tailgate to make such a noise that I can think of, is there?

 

[CactusJacked]

Nothing inside the tailgate to make that noise, unless something came loose and dropped down. Are the lock & latch mechanisms and wipers working as they should? Thinking about the hitch, if mine had something rolling inside it, I don't know how well I'd be able to hear it from inside the Jeep.

 

[JBDive]

Well took off the rear panel and nothing in the reachable areas. It has a reinforcement about 4 inches from the bottom that keeps you from seeing the full area however there are a few slots cut that you can look through and I couldn't see anything or see any indication something had rolled around.

Inspected under the rear and everything is nice and tight, no rub marks anywhere. There are to cross reinforcements of the bed of back area which I guess something could roll around in but how the heck anything could get in there in the first place would be a mystery.

Only think I can think of doing is to head by Harbor Freight and get a super large magnet and just keep trying different areas under the car.

 

[turblediesel]

I had something in the panel below the door rolling back and forth every start and stop on a Renault. Drilled a couple of holes and spray-foamed it.

Also had some weld splatter rolling around in the aluminum subframe of my BMW R1100S. Superglue stopped that one.

Good luck.

 

[M38 Bob]

You don't suppose some joker at the dealership dropped a ball bearing in the gas tank??? Had a customer vehicle once with something in the tank,been to long to remember what it was.

Bob


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[JeepJeepster]

Nut inside the frame rail from hitch install?

 

[JBDive]

You don't suppose some joker at the dealership dropped a ball bearing in the gas tank??? Had a customer vehicle once with something in the tank,been to long to remember what it was.

Bob
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One thought I had was if the Jeep has the fuel pump inside the tank like Dodge does and if it was somehow loose but the tank is plastic which would be a deeper thunk than this metal on metal sound.

My biggest concern is if this is mechanical is it something that is broken and while driving down the road something catastrophic happens. I can't think of anything in the rear of a vehicle that could roll around with a clank at the end that in any way is mechanical in the rear end area. All that is back there is your tank and rear end. If something was in the rear axle first off I don't think we would hear it and second off the rear end would fail pretty fast. Any sound you can hear inside the vehicle with ease has got to be in the body panels I think.

 

[JBDive]

Nut inside the frame rail from hitch install?

This would mean the dealership did something intentional because I had a factory hitch so all they were to do was to inspect it and certify the recall was done.

Inspected the bolts of the hitch and if they even tightened them it doesn't so, there are no socket marks at all. Everything underneath looks normal for the age of the vehicle, no new marks, no new parts, no scratch marks, finger prints, no rub marks, nothing. Only thing that looked strange was a a small oval opening on the driver side, rear, just past the tank which looks like a hole to the interior which has a cover on it with two prongs that fold back to hole it in place. No clue what this is but one of the prongs is bent funny but that could have been from the factory. I'll see about getting an image of that as no clue what it could be for.

Stumped. I can't think of any way to diagnose this other than to put a strong magnet in various places and see if it can catch whatever is loose even if inside a panel. BTW the sound only happens during turns, never stop/start. I don't think jacking up one side would allow for enough angle to make whatever it is move but may try that with somebody under it to try and isolate it better.

 

[JBDive]

You don't suppose some joker at the dealership dropped a ball bearing in the gas tank??? Had a customer vehicle once with something in the tank,been to long to remember what it was.

Bob
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Did stop by another dealership to quickly ask the parts/service guy if he could think of anything which he couldn't but he told me a story about another customer. Older gal would bring in her Cherokee because of a noise in her driver door. They would take off the door panel and find a dime. Few weeks later she would come in again with a noise, dime in the door panel. Seems somebody at her office thought it was funny to slide dimes between the window and door panel while it was parked at work,

 

[JBDive]

I had something in the panel below the door rolling back and forth every start and stop on a Renault. Drilled a couple of holes and spray-foamed it.

Also had some weld splatter rolling around in the aluminum subframe of my BMW R1100S. Superglue stopped that one.

Good luck.

There are a number of areas that I could use that expanding spray foam far easier than a magnet or trying to access them for looking around. Can anyone think of reasons not to use this spray foam? I am thinking of the areas such as the lower rear door panel or the cross frame body cavities would be easy to foam. Thinking the biggest problem might be retaining moisture in those areas now that air would not be able to freely flow, rust.

 

[turblediesel]

Rust might be a factor. I cared more for my sanity than the Renault. Foam expanded into the seatbelt retract mechanism so I had to pull that and clean it up. Doors have drains that need to be kept clear. Sheet metal can rust away quickly.

Also had an old Ford pickup with an in-cab tank that had a weld blob running from side to side on turns. Took the tank out and shook it upside down.

Can you get some idea from the sound how far the doo-dad travels? That might give you an idea of the size of the rattle chamber and help eliminate some possibilities. Once you have it narrowed down you might be able to do a sharp turn to park the doo-dad on one side and use a minimum amount of foam on that side to stick it in place. Since your noise is side to side I would guess it's not in the doors except maybe the tailgate. Superglue won't hold moisture but it might be a battle to get it where it needs to go. BMW subframe was off the bike which made it easy to track the doo-dad.

Hate them extra noises.

 

[JBDive]

Well I've not heard the noise for awhile, granted I haven't really tried to force it by making hard turns. I put a very strong rare earth magnet on the body, under the rear end. There is a U shaped body reinforcement that goes from side to side and I placed the magnet towards the passenger side.

Don't known if it caught whatever it is or if whatever it is has somehow fallen out of gotten lodged somewhere. In either case I can't hear it when doing a normal turn whereas before it was noisy as heck.

 

[MarkJ]

Do you have the factory skid plate under the tank?