Rattle in old car

ripplyuk

It’s an 11yo Volkswagen Up. 36,000 miles. I’ve had it from new. Recently, I’ve noticed a rattle on the left hand side which is hard to describe but it’s the sound you would make if you put a tiny bit of wire in a metal pipe and shook it. The car drives fine and I can’t see anything about to fall off underneath. I plan to book it into the garage next week to get it checked. 

Chatting to friends and their brothers, almost all of them have told me to ignore it and said it’s not worth spending money checking out every little rattle or squeak in an old car. Is this true? It has made me wonder when is the most economical time to cut my losses and buy a new one. I’m not considering that yet because the car has been very reliable so far but I know it will happen sooner or later. Is there a certain age when a car is seen as more money-saving to replace than repair? 

Effician

Drop link would be my guess,  a cheap & easy fix.

ROY47

My guess without hearing it 

Heat shield above exhaust pipe somewhere underneath touching exhaust ?

Drop link tends to create a knock rather than the sound you describe 

fatbelly

A 2014 Up with 36k on it should have loads of life in it. Mine is 2012 and 70k and I expect it to pass another MOT next week. I'll report back if wrong. 

You do get a few rattles. Nothing to sorry about.

Some on Autotrader have done over 130k

Goudy

Perhaps check the brakes.
It might be the acoustic warning system telling you the pads are low.

There is usually a metal tang on the brake pads and as the friction material wears down, these tangs start to touch and scrape on the discs causing a noise as the wheel/brake disc spins. 

How Brake Pad Wear Indicators Work: A Guide — Ricks Free Auto Repair Advice Ricks Free Auto Repair Advice | Car Repair Tips and How-To Advice

Bigphil1474

My dad always said, that's what the radio is for, turn it up until you can't hear the rattle. Have you checked the glove compartment and/or door panel area for someone else's junk left rattling around? The time to get rid of a car is when it costs more than it's worth to keep going.

RedFraggle

Anyone else remember the ad with the squeaky earrings?

twopenny

This one 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eKmf0YjZXqo

I've been told by mechanics too to turn up the radio. It's worked for me for 30yrs.

I've had one car I loved that did 125miles second time round the clock. Only lost it because of rust repair+ a new fuel pump needed and the tank screws had rusted in.
Sold to a classic car dealer and it was running around town in no time.

On the question though, 9 times out of 10 you'll find something in a side pocket, gloves compartment or slipped somewhere.
They can take ages examining car parts, charge you and find nothing. Been there, done that 

jimjames

ripplyuk said:

It’s an 11yo Volkswagen Up. 36,000 miles. I’ve had it from new. Is there a certain age when a car is seen as more money-saving to replace than repair? 

Maybe once it has a 1 in front of the mileage and has corrosion that is too expensive to repair but a rattle isn't anything to worry about if you're getting it checked out.

ripplyuk

I had a look for any loose objects and did find a keyring in the door panel storage compartment but when I removed that, the noise was still happening so I left the car into the garage to be checked. They came back today and said they can’t find anything wrong with the car. They didn’t even notice the noise, which is bizarre because it’s very obvious to me. I would be beginning to doubt my sanity at this point but several other people have commented on the noise when in the car with me so I’m not imagining it. 

It’s a mystery but I’ll just have to try and ignore it and see what happens. At least the garage didn’t charge. That was nice of them. 

droopsnoot

I have a knock from the rear end of my car - it's a 2000 Audi with just over 200,000 miles on it. Neither I, nor the chap who does the annual service / inspection can find where it's coming from, even when particularly looking for it. It was there at last year's MOT test, and while they weren't looking for it, there was nothing MOT-related causing it. Granted my car's mileage does at least mean that it deserves to have the odd knock, but it's still frustrating.