If you have an XF 2012-on (face lift) with a centre speaker rattle, here is how to sort it for good.

1) use a butter knife or blunt knife to slide under one side of the centre speaker cover.

2) give the cover a pull straight upwards and it will pop out of its location but not more than 40mm as there is a wire connector attached to the cover.

3) push the small tap in on the plugs long side and slide the plug out.

4) make sure you have the four steel clips still attached to the cover as they may drop off. Give them a push and seat them all the way back on the plastic lugs on the under side of the cover.

5) at this point you can see witness marks where the cover touched the dashboard.

6) run a small bead of silicon (clear is best) on all the contact points. Keep the silicone about 6mm from the edge as once the cover clicks back in the silicone will spread near the edge( you don't want it all oozing out )

7) blob some silicone on the clips on the underside of the cover to stop them rattling.

8) plug the connector back in and re-fit the cover hooking the back end in first(side nearest to the windscreen)

9) never again will this dam thing rattle!

OK now the bonus, if you like your music loud (like me) you probably turn your music up until just before it distorts, well guess what it wasn't your speakers distorting it was the cover!!!

Good advice, Ian.  Often the little annoying things are hard to solve.

 

They used to say that Austin used to employ a man to put in a small pebble  or a ball bearing into the inside of a sill.

 Peter. 

ian silcone is the best thing since sliced bread. i used to own a small building co and the amount of silicone used for varr ios jobs has transformed the building game. if you have a bad joiner silicone makes him look good. my green house the glass bedded in using glass silicome. decorators use it for filling in the gaps in wood work ,ect  regards charlie

Hi Ian, as a recently member who has just bought an 2011 XF 2.2D facelift, I have noticed an very intermittent high-pitched buzzing noise from the centre speaker near the windscreen. Sometimes is lasts for a very short period, and sometimes longer. I found a short clip on YouTube which seems to replicate a similar problem in a Jag (but not XF) coming from the same area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoTnDOibDzY

Your instructions of how to fix are amazing, but would you be able to confirm that this is the same problem you experienced before you applied the above technique to eliminate the problem?

Many thanks, Andrew

 

 

Hi Andrew i can confirm that this video is the exact rattling in question and to date the rattle never came back. 

Brilliant, thanks for confirming Ian. I will follow your instructions to the letter. Now a trip to B&Q... 😊

Thanks again, Andrew