Center Console Rattling Problem

Did you clean out the trunk?

Did you remove everything from the door pockets and the change pocket on the dash?

I'd go through the whole car and remove EVERYTHING that wasn't nailed down. remove the carpets remove all the CD's from the CD changer...

Then see if the noise goes away.

I fixed one rattle by removing a loose lug nut that was rolling around under the spare tire!

(original owner had locking nuts put on.)

I've never had to take the seats out, but from cleaning under them I do know about the place where the front carpet meets the back that you talk about.

My guess is that you'd have to remove the seats to get under the carpet.

The other thing that bugs me is that it got LOUDER when you took the center console out. That makes me think that you may have something loose under the car. It could be something as simple as a loose heat shield on the exhaust or a loose brake line.

The mounts they use do break sometimes. I'd get the car up on ramps or jack stands and have someone go under the car and wiggle things to see if you can reproduce the rattling. The fact that the sound changes with acceleration and when turning makes me think that it is something connected to the engine or suspension.

I know just how frustrating a rattle can be. I once had a rattling heat shield on a catalytic converter on a 1984 Chevrolet Caprice. It drove me nuts for a month before I figured out what it was and ripped it off. (looking back that might not have been really smart but it sure was a lot quieter! BTW it never hurt anything that I noticed.)

I'd definitely recommend looking UNDER the car before trying to take the seats out. I'm guessing that it is something really simple wiggling around under there.