I have seen quite a lot of talk in this forum and others about dashboard rattles on the Gen 4 Pajero's, most relating to the weak dash mounting brackets. Well don't always assume the worst when your dash starts to rattle...
On our December trip through Namibia we had our fair share of corrugations for more than 250km. Now if I talk about Namibian corrugations you have to think of the worst you can imagine and then multiply that by two. On a specific section between Solitare and Walvisbaai we cam across a Toyota Hilux with a broken left front ball joint. A few km further on we came across two girls from Mosselbay in a Pajero whose rooftop tent got shaken to pieces, laying in the road.
Before we got to Walvisbaai a rattle started in the vicinity of the centre speaker. For the rest of our trip that rattle irritated the crap out of me. It sounded like a loose speaker or dashboard. Well having read the posts I broke the first rule of engineering and assumed that it must be a broken or loose centre dash mounting bracket.
When we got back home I decided to leave the rattle until I have the time to rip the dash out to fix the problem. Being a minimum of a two day job I left it until today when the rattle got the better of my patience.
Since the rattle originated from somewhere near the centre speaker I decided to start there. I will have to remove the speaker in any case to get to the dash mounting bracket underneath. So I took the speaker cover off and there it was, the cause of the rattle!
The red LED alarm light mounted next to the speaker sits inside a ABS plastic bracket mounted in the steel dash frame. The speaker cover holds the LED assembly tight against the steel plate, but all that shaking worked it loose and it starter to rattle!
I removed the speaker in any case to check the dash mountings which were 100% fine. Replaced the speaker and decided to make a more permanent plan to stop that LED from ever rattling again. Well, easiest solution was to stick it to the steel using a hot glue gun (see before and after pictures). Then I replaced everything and took it off road, rattle gone!
The moral of the story is that if I did not assume that it must be the dash brackets i could have fixed the problem on the day it occurred and I would never had to live with it for so long.
Andre,
Saw your post on the other side as well - thanks for the heads-up.
I don't think I have that little light - is your's an aftermarket alarm?
Saw your post on the other side as well - thanks for the heads-up.
I don't think I have that little light - is your's an aftermarket alarm?
No, this is standard equipment on my 2012 GLS. It might be that the GLX came out without the light, but I am not sure.
2007 GLS... No light, but mine did not have a alarm fitted... 
Karl
