Planet 9

I have had my 08 Cayman for six weeks, and everything is fine except for an annoying noise which I have traced to the driver side tail light. When accelerating in first or second it is most noticeable, but it also occurs in third and fourth when running on a road with very slight imperfections. It is not a rattle, but more of a ticking sound like a ping pong ball bouncing on a table. I checked the bulb assembly and all of the bulbs are seated properly, and the bulb assembly itself is snapped into position (with just a small amount of wiggle room, but wiggling this does not make the same noise). I drove around the block with the bulb assembly removed and the noise went away. It almost sounds like one of the bulbs is tapping on the the tail light cover. Are any of the bulbs that close to the tail light that they could be tapping the tail light?

I have read many other threads related to rattles but none seem to be coming from the tail light. Does anyone know of any simple adjustments that may remedy this? Thanks.

I have the same exact problem . . . for over a year....
But I'm not sure its the lights, I think its the plastic moulding around the rear window. It make a ticking/ tapping noise : plastic on plastic.....I stuffed/wedged black cardboard in the space between the moulding and rear hatch and the moulding and the glass. It decreased the sound. It would appear as if the noise is coming from the luggage screen tapping on the plastic part of the engine bay/cover....as this is in close proximity. But I removed this and the sound was still there. Please help ....

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I had the same problem. Wrapped the full outside edge of the tail light bulbs assemlby with cloth tape. Put the assembly back again. Aaaah the sound of silence. Even the small amount play seems to cause noise at times.

Your tail light is asking you to replace it with a red one.

I went to the dealer last Friday, and the shop foreman went with me on a ride and heard the ticking noise. He pressed on various driver side parts that he could reach from the passenger seat, but nothing made a difference. He said to bring it back on Tuesday for a service appointment.

Today I had the car at the dealer today for my service appointment. The invoice says "removed c-pillar trim panel, cover for rear, strut cover, rear wall trim panel, and rear oddments tray to inspect for signs of rubbing parts; found metal anchors for fastening screws to be gouging plastic, fitted felt tape between fastening points. also found metal catches for clips between spring strut cover and oddments tray to be slightly worn, applied felt tape accordingly. noted points of contact between all trim panels were slightly worn, applied felt tape and re-assembled for best fit. road tested with shop foreman, verified noise is no longer present. put a total of 6 miles on vehicle during road tests."

When I drove away, no ticking noise, but once I got closer to home I could hear the noises again, so I think what they did helped, but did not eliminate the problem. I'm not sure what to do now.

After reading other posts about ticking noises like mine, I checked the airbox for rattles and found that it was my air filter that was making the noise. It would flutter at 2800-3000 RPM, and tick when starting up in first, driving over minor road imperfections, and at other random times.

The screw which holds the air filter black plastic piece to the airbox was secure, but I found that the bottom part of the black plastic piece had a great deal of play, and would make the ticking noise when it hit the side of the airbox. I added a little foam weatherstripping tape to keep it from moving, and now my ticking noise is gone!