[avi66]

Originally Posted by turbobeagle

So I applied the easier version of this fix from top side with pipe insulation as suggested earlier. It worked great!

But the noise has now returned a month later. I checked the fix, and it turns out the pipe insulation had gotten compressed and was no longer applying much pressure on the reservoir. I replaced with some fresh pipe insulation and all is well again.

Any recommendations for an alternate material?

I don’t necessarily need a perfect fix, but maybe something that could last longer than a month. I don’t mind having to do this a couple times a year, but monthly would be annoying.

Try some expanding foam aerosol in a sealable sandwich bag.

[Jen4BMW]

I am glad my post on the water reservoir proved helpful to so many fellow forum members. After getting the reservoir rattle fixed the good news is my 2022 X3 M40i is 100% rattle amid squeak free!

Cheers,
Jen

[jsh139]

Originally Posted by turbobeagle

So I applied the easier version of this fix from top side with pipe insulation as suggested earlier. It worked great!

But the noise has now returned a month later. I checked the fix, and it turns out the pipe insulation had gotten compressed and was no longer applying much pressure on the reservoir. I replaced with some fresh pipe insulation and all is well again.

Any recommendations for an alternate material?

I don’t necessarily need a perfect fix, but maybe something that could last longer than a month. I don’t mind having to do this a couple times a year, but monthly would be annoying.

Maybe some rubber radiator hose? It’s definitely heat resistant. Not sure if it’ll be thick enough?

[OttawaM]

Well add me to that list as well! ‘22 X3MC. Noticed the rattle the other day and was driving me crazy. Went online and as soon as I seen a few videos showing the rattle I knew that’s what it was. Will bring it to the dealer for this one. Funny thing is that when the car gets hot from being in the sun for a while it doesn’t happen. Guess the tank expands a little and stops rattling.

[TonM3]

The dealer wasn't able to recreate the sound even though I heard it every day. Thanks to this thread I was able to fix it. I took off the trim panel above it and put a long wide piece of high density packing material on each side of the reservoir. Nice and tightly sandwiched. It will not move again and should not compress the material.

Thanks for this discussion. It was driving me nuts.

[Davciedi]

I had this noise in my 23 X4, it was driving me nuts, I didn’t have any idea of what it could be, after reading this post I armed myself with courage and dissembled the top cover to reach the washer reservoir, I took a piece of foam from a toy (a sword actually) and tucked it in the right side of the washer reservoir and the rattle has gone, at least for the last week. My question is if the heat generated by the engine can be enough to mealt the foam or if you guys recommend any special material. I’ve had a couple of long travels of 5 hours and everything seems to be fine, but my OCD keeps me worrying about it. Thanks!!

[g11hoonigan]

Originally Posted by Davciedi

I had this noise in my 23 X4, it was driving me nuts, I didn’t have any idea of what it could be, after reading this post I armed myself with courage and dissembled the top cover to reach the washer reservoir, I took a piece of foam from a toy (a sword actually) and tucked it in the right side of the washer reservoir and the rattle has gone, at least for the last week. My question is if the heat generated by the engine can be enough to mealt the foam or if you guys recommend any special material. I’ve had a couple of long travels of 5 hours and everything seems to be fine, but my TOC keeps me worrying about it. Thanks!!

I don't think that area gets warm enough to melt the foam. But if it does melt eventually, just put in another foam.

[brettl]

sarith
Read through this thread for washer reservoir fix.

[Fredcohiba]

Add me to the list. 2022 X3 xDrive30i.
Took it to the dealer for a scheduled maintenance, oil change and cabin filter replacement. Mentioned the passenger side A pillar noise. The noise has been evident for about three months and I figured I could live with it and have it remedied at maintenance time.
Two hours after arrival the service writer told me that the noise was confirmed and diagnosed, windshield washer reservoir was rattling. BUT, they didn’t have the parts in stock to fix it so they would order the items and schedule another service time for me. What part(s) needed to be ordered? The felt tape.
This all happened 4 days ago and I now have an appointment three days from now for the fix. I’ll keep you posted.

[Fredcohiba]

Originally Posted by Fredcohiba

Add me to the list. 2022 X3 xDrive30i.
Took it to the dealer for a scheduled maintenance, oil change and cabin filter replacement. Mentioned the passenger side A pillar noise. The noise has been evident for about three months and I figured I could live with it and have it remedied at maintenance time.
Two hours after arrival the service writer told me that the noise was confirmed and diagnosed, windshield washer reservoir was rattling. BUT, they didn’t have the parts in stock to fix it so they would order the items and schedule another service time for me. What part(s) needed to be ordered? The felt tape.
This all happened 4 days ago and I now have an appointment three days from now for the fix. I’ll keep you posted.

Fast forward to Monday morning.
I took my car into the dealer and confirmed that indeed, the felt tape was the part that was on order.
Two hours later, I am on my way home in a once again, very quiet car. All is well.

[vrships]

Just to confirm. This does fully solve the annoying rattling that troubled me for 2 years on my Y20 model. I did the simpler fix - open up the plastic lid from the engine bay and tape d a piece of plumber foam to the inner side of the tank. It's thick enough to push the tank against the frame and it's got no more room to rattle against the mounting hook.

Hugely thankful to OP and all people figuring out this mystery. I cannot possibly how you could track down an issue like this to its root cause.

[The.bands]

*Bump* - anyone?

Can anyone tell me if this is what their washer reservoir rattle sounded like?
Noise starts about 15s in. http://sndup.net/sjmq

More obvious on rough surfaces, not speed related and not affected by up/down motion e.g potholes
Possibly caused more by lateral movement.

I have tried wedging a piece of foam via the engine bay as per the earlier posts in this thread but it hasn't made anything better.

[lfdal54]

Of all the sound bites I listened to, none of them sounded like my problem. But, as I was aware it could be a problem when I had the car in for service last June (2023) for the wind noise, they said they checked and it wasn't a problem. Still had the rattle when I got it home. When I took it in September, the tech couldn't hear it, even though the shop foreman could. Then I took it in the week before last and they blamed my aftermarket puddle lights. Took it in this week with the lights removed and they finally decided the washer rattle was the problem. They ran almost 30 miles on the car (making lunch runs?) over several test drives, one of which was 20+ miles, and said it was corrected. Seems like they were right. My noise never started until the car was warmed up with a few miles on it.

I've got to lube the door seals again as I can hear them squeaking a bit. BTW - the tech did mention that there is an official fix for that - some sort of clear Teflon strip they stick along the top edge of the door seal area on the frame.

[The.bands]

*Bump* - anyone?

Can anyone tell me if this is what their washer reservoir rattle sounded like?
Noise starts about 15s in. http://sndup.net/sjmq

[Fredcohiba]

Originally Posted by The.bands

*Bump* - anyone?

Can anyone tell me if this is what their washer reservoir rattle sounded like?
Noise starts about 15s in. http://sndup.net/sjmq

Brings back some bad memories. YES, that’s what mine sounded like.

As an aside, after the initial “fix” I had a similar rattling again after a few days. After a number of trips back to the dealer, they re-did the original fix and all is quiet again. Not sure why the original fix was subpar.

[bde]

Just fixed this on my 2024.... Looks like BMW doesn't learn...

[TonM3]

Originally Posted by bde

Just fixed this on my 2024.... Looks like BMW doesn't learn...

To emphasize the point, I had the same issue of a sqeaky washer reservoir on my 2009 e90, that is why I knew what it was on my G01.