[gtobey]

My wife's '01 developed an annoying rattle which sounded like a small steel ball inside a plastic/metal box that would roll around and bounce on the bottom when you hit a bump. It was an intermittent rattle, sounded the same with the rear seats in or out, and the sound echoed off the windows/doors making it difficult to pinpoint the exact source, as it was a quiet-type of rattle when heard from the driver's seat. Although somewhat "muffled", it was very annoying. You would hear the "ball" roll forward when you put on the brakes, and roll backward when you accelerated. I looked all around inside the car, removed the seats, took out the rear shelf, checked the rear door shaking it up and down, took out the spare tire and put it back tightly, drove around listening to every sound for a clue, yet could not pinpoint the culprit. I finally got into the back into the rear compartment (sans seats and package shelf) and had my wife drive me around so I could move around inside the back and listen for the bugger. I heard the noise seemingly coming from up high at the rear door.

I got out of the vehicle, walked around back, and noticed that the center high mount stop light was not working. Back in my garage, I removed the cover over the CHMSL and removed the assembly. BINGO! All three bulbs were blown, and two of them had broken just above the narrow part where the bulb plug into the socket. The boken top part of the bulbs were rolling around inside the light assembly. I removed the broken bulbs and installed 3 new Sylvania 921LL bulbs, and replaced the unit. No rattle.

Any one else had this experience? If you are experiencing the same, maybe this will help you find it.