Squeak/cracking sound rear doors

[chris989]

Hello all,

I know this is impossible without being in the truck but I am at wits end.

Other than a little wind noise my 89 suburban has been silent. No rattle, no squeak etc. Recently i had a slapping/creaking sound,,, like a wire or stick hitting the outside of the truck.. I thought something was caught in a door.. Nothing,

The sound is coming from the rear barn door area, a creaking. I removed all of the plastic, checking inside the doors, nothing loose, Still get the creaking once in a while.... Maybe fatigued metal? does not happen over every bump, sometimes just while driving and at any speed.

I can shake the doors when open,, silent, shake the truck, silent. My last thought is I have a rock maybe above the gas tank pinching against something?? or some fatigued metal somewhere?

I am thinking of loosening the rear door strikers to take pressure off the latches/hinges and see if that solved it?

This is a long shot,,, but has anyone had a odd noise like this,, did you find the source.

Chris

[3drburb]

I have not experienced this but it sounds like the trim around the roof above the rear door or body moldings if you still have those on the suburban coming off. I hope it is that simple.
If you have someone else to drive it, it's time for you to sit in the rear while going down the road to help pinpoint the sound.
Best wishes to you in finding this, sounds annoying.

[James Lamb]

My 1989 Suburban has the rear tailgate and window, so not really the same, but ... a few years ago I realized the door latch posts on all the doors are supposed to have a plastic collar on them. Broken and gone for so long I did not even realize there was anything missing. I found some pex pipe the right size, cut lengths of pex, slit them, forced them onto the door latch posts, including the tailgate ones. In general that cut down a lot on rattly noises, and the doors no longer have a sag. It's cheap - one piece of pex is a couple $, might be worth a try.

Also, my rear window had a ding on the top edge of the glass when I bought the truck. Finally took the rear window seal out to find a row of body bolts holding on the rear top edge of the body, including the rear rain gutter. One of those bolts had backed out. They are Torx on my truck, so I used my impact driver to torque the crap out of all of them to insure no more backed out. If yours did something like that could the bolt head by hitting the door at bumps?

[chris989]

I thought i figured it out but,,,,

i fixed the headliner a few years back and noticed most of the screws in the trim could use a few turns,, Drove around a few days and much quieter so i figured it was the plastic trim/screws creaking on each other and then today it was back more than ever on a bumpy road,, It really sounds like it is inside the body/door panels.

I will take all of the plastic trim out of the back and test some more,,,

Chris

[James Lamb]

Have you replaced the body to frame mounts? Mine were extremely flattened when I did mine a couple of years ago. That was another thing that vastly improved ride quality and also cut down on noises generally.

[chris989]

I took a video of the noise,,,, My daughter, while riding in the back, says it is from the under the floor... I have been front to back multiple times underneath and nothing is loose.. Maybe a rock pinched somewhere????


https://youtu.be/VoL4S0fv6z4

[kwmech]

Under the floor might be fuel tank related

[chris989]

The noise has stopped all on its own,,, My guess is a rock flew up and got caught somewhere and now has either crushed itself or fallen out...

Chris