B Pillar Tick

Bob Miller · October 7, 2019

On 10/5/2019 at 11:34 AM, davidsp101 said:

Mine has been really bad. Any temp between 65-85 and I’m screwed unless the sun is beating down on the truck. It’s going to the dealer again Monday.

Let us know what they say. My dealer tends to be kind of mediocre when it comes to fixing things. I had to take it to another dealer to finally get my rattling passenger seat frame ordered (the part hasn't come in yet, but when it does and they fix the seat its going to be like Christmas morning for me to not have my passenger seat rattle anymore).

I actually took off my B pillar trim this weekend and spent some time trying to figure it out - which of course I can't. Today during lunch I drove over to a stereo shop near my office to see what they'd charge to put Dynamat type product in the pillar and it sounds like it'll run a couple hundred bucks or so. I may just buy the material and do it myself since I have the pillar off. A kit of that mat product is about $125 for 12 square feet. I may just break down and buy it and then use the left over stuff in other areas of the truck.

My thought was putting it on the metal that is exposed facing the inside of the cab. Perhaps taking the seat belt height adjustment mechanism off and then putting the dynamat behind it, cutting out the bolt holes, and then bolting the seat belt mechanism back in over it. Then perhaps putting some more on other exposed surfaces within the pillar too, both inner and outer skin. It seems like that stuff was designed to reduce or eliminate vibrating metal , so this may be the only solution. (of course assuming that is the piece of the pillar that's actually vibrating...)

wingsaa · October 11, 2019

So I had this issue and was able to resolve it. There IS a tsb for it but I cant find it for the life of me and don't have access to the tsb database anymore. If I find it I'll post it... I'll do some searching.

I'll do my best to explain so bear with me. Mine was on my 2016 Yukon XL Denali. Literally drove me to the point of insanity. Okay, so basically in the b-pillar there are two pieces of sheet metal sandwiched together. If you remove the inner panel trim pieces then take a look where the grab handles bolt on... it might be behind the door seal but you'll see the sandwiched sheet metal. Basically they did a shit job welding them and when it gets really hot (I'm in Dallas) the metal expands and you guessed it... plays that beautiful snare drum ticking melody in your ear. The tsb actually called for welding something in that area but essentially what the tech did was put a long bolt into the rear grab handle mount point and put a pry bar on the bolt and slightly pry that away and give a very slight gap. I'm talking barely pry... just enough to gap but it keeps those pieces from "ticking". Its not even noticeable. It would happen to me on a hot day after my truck was parked in the sun for about 6 to 8 hrs. I would hear that shit my entire drive home. Needless to say,its been 2yrs now and no more tick.

Hope that makes sense. I'm pissed I didnt save the tsb as it has photos, etc. Like I said, I'll keep looking to see if I can find it. Hope I can give y'all back some sanity.

The closest TSB I can find at the moment is for the 2019 Chevy Blazer but is basically the same issue. Awesome to see it's still an issue lol.

TSB:19-NA-111 Attached

I'll keep searching for the tsb relevant to the K2XX

MC-10161899-9999.pdf

Edited October 11, 2019 by wingsaa

wingsaa · October 11, 2019

Okay... I found the repair procedure. It's a PIT (Preliminary Information Bulletin) not a TSB. Regardless, the pdf is attached with pics. Hope this is helpful...

PIT5579.pdf

Edited October 11, 2019 by wingsaa

Bob Miller · October 16, 2019

On 10/10/2019 at 10:20 PM, wingsaa said:

Okay... I found the repair procedure. It's a PIT (Preliminary Information Bulletin) not a TSB. Regardless, the pdf is attached with pics. Hope this is helpful...

PIT5579.pdf 468.6 kB · 15 downloads

Hey thanks for posting this. I had my B pillar trim off the last couple of weeks trying to figure this out. I even bought some Noico "dynamat" type material off Amazon and put it on various points inside the pillar around the seat belt adjuster this last weekend and it basically did nothing. I'm going to study this document and see if perhaps I can do this myself. I'd do anything to stop this noise at this point.

Incidentally I had to throw the trim panels back on the pillar yesterday morning because I was going to be transporting some coworkers around yesterday and I didn't want to have to explain why all my trim was missing on the pillar LOL. In my hasty attempt to put it all back together before work (sweating profusely thanks to an especially humid Houston morning) I ended up somehow messing up the tabs that connect the lower black trim piece to the upper gray piece that surrounds the seat belt slider. its looks terrible. When I take this apart again I'm also going to try and figure out how I can align those two trim pieces together. I don't understand how those two tabs don't "catch" anymore to keep the pieces firmly together...

Bob Miller · October 21, 2019

On 7/4/2019 at 10:57 AM, JHowie said:

I had this problem a while back, passenger side. I too though it was in the Pillar. I tried adjusting the door striker and tick no more.

When you adjusted your door striker on the passenger side did you move it up or down ? (or sideways even?). This whole time I thought my passenger seat was rattling its turning out that it actually isn't the seat at all. I had one dealer replace the door lock and it did nothing, and then another dealer replace the passenger seat frame, did nothing. I decided to put gorilla tape on the door striker and it stopped the ticking and rattling - but its finicky.

My wife rode in the passenger seat the other day and the next time I drove the truck without anyone in it, it was rattling again. So I took the tape off and put a little bit less back on (and also took a mallet and slightly tapped up and down on the striker) , and now its quiet again. I'd rather just adjust it though and not worry about it rattling again.

The B pillar tick on the driver side remains though. Lately it seems to be even more sporadic. Usually when its lower than 75 or so outside it doesn't' do it, but it was in the 60s and rainy this morning and it was doing it.

I should also note that I taped the driver side striker and tapped up and down on it too hoping maybe that was the cause of my driver side problem as well - but I truly think that the driver side is definitely the bad weld.

Edited October 21, 2019 by Bob Miller

JHowie · October 21, 2019

52 minutes ago, Bob Miller said:

When you adjusted your door striker on the passenger side did you move it up or down ? (or sideways even?). This whole time I thought my passenger seat was rattling its turning out that it actually isn't the seat at all. I had one dealer replace the door lock and it did nothing, and then another dealer replace the passenger seat frame, did nothing. I decided to put gorilla tape on the door striker and it stopped the ticking and rattling - but its finicky.

My wife rode in the passenger seat the other day and the next time I drove the truck without anyone in it, it was rattling again. So I took the tape off and put a little bit less back on (and also took a mallet and slightly tapped up and down on the striker) , and now its quiet again. I'd rather just adjust it though and not worry about it rattling again.

The B pillar tick on the driver side remains though. Lately it seems to be even more sporadic. Usually when its lower than 75 or so outside it doesn't' do it, but it was in the 60s and rainy this morning and it was doing it.

I should also note that I taped the driver side striker and tapped up and down on it too hoping maybe that was the cause of my driver side problem as well - but I truly think that the driver side is definitely the bad weld.

If I remember I think it was back and forward, just eye ball it so it looks like it catches the center of the latch on the door

Bob Miller · November 20, 2019

***B Pillar tick update**

I haven't done the procedure that wingsaa suggested yet (its cooled down here in Houston and the noise has basically gone away and I really haven't had a chance to take everything apart again).

However, this morning I noticed the tick was coming back on bumps (71 degrees this morning here). So for giggles, because I still have the roll of Gorilla tape in my truck from when I taped up the passenger door striker for that rattle, I decided to pull into a quiet neighborhood on my drive to work and tape up the door striker on the REAR driver side door. Started driving off and the tick was immediately gone.

My hunch is it has something to do with the perhaps the door being held firmer in place against the cab and maybe "pressing" harder against that weld (?) Not really sure. To me though its not really a solution. I may just adjust that striker when I get around to actually adjusting the passenger door striker too.

wingsaa · November 20, 2019

Y'all need to check the welds in the area I posted. I had one spot weld that didnt exist. I spread it... put a fiber gasket between and then stuck some jb weld in the seam and clamped it for a day then painted and put the rubber seal back. Tick is 100% gone for a year now. The other place you can apply some fiber tape for good measure is where the door harness connector rests in that pillar. You'll notice it rattles. Basically, unplug the harness and then remove the female socket connector from the pillar and apply some fiber tape or whatever so the plastic doesnt move in the slot. But the ticking is most definitely the welds. Guarantee you have at least one that's not welded. It's obvious when you see it... there's a dimple but no weld. When the temp changes the metal expands or contracts. Go check it out and let me know if you have questions. Glad to help where I can. Btw... check the rear pillars if you have the suv... I had to fix that as well. The rear is a different location but you basically follow the procedure I posted and you'll be fine.

Here's some crappy photos but may help...

-First two pics are of the location of the missing weld on the sandwiched outer and inner sheet metal

-third pic is where I tapped in a plastic wedge to open the gap a bit and insert a fiber gasket piece

-last pic is with the gasket inserted and wedge removed

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Bob Miller · February 10, 2020

On 10/5/2019 at 11:34 AM, davidsp101 said:

Mine has been really bad. Any temp between 65-85 and I’m screwed unless the sun is beating down on the truck. It’s going to the dealer again Monday.

Did you ever get a chance to take your truck into the dealer for the B Pillar tick?

I haven't tried messing with the pillar spot welds yet but it seems that putting that black gorilla tape around the rear driver side door striker seems to make it stop. I did that in November and it finally wore out from opening and closing the door I guess. I heard the ticking coming back this morning so I re-taped the door striker again and the ticking went away.

So my guess is that if it isn't the B Pillar spot welds, then it has something to do with the rear door being out of adjustment. This doesn't surprise me, because my passenger door is out of adjustment and it ticks and rattles too - I've sprayed that door's latch and striker and it makes it go away temporarily - again I just need to find time (and patience) to get in there and adjust the bolts for the door on the hinges.

wreckitralf82 · August 25, 2020

Hey everybody, so I just purchased a 2020 2500hd High Country about a month ago and the infamous B pillar vibration began two days ago. The rattling was very subtle at first and then progressively became very loud right next to my left ear. It became so annoying I couldn't even drive a mile without becoming pissed off with everything. So this afternoon I manned up and took off the interior trim on the B pillar and tried simulating vibrations from the road and everything was tight. I thought okay surely its the mechanism on the door rattling on the latch of the pillar. No Biscuit. I got on the floor outside my hotel and started messing with the side step. The clicking noise sounded when i "gently" hit the sidestep. However, after removing the sidestep and going on a test drive the Clicking noise was ever present. Just when i was about to give up i began tapping the B pillar from the stickers that read you trailer weights and load ranges all the way to the top of the roof. I noticed a very very slight rattle by the latch on pillar that meets the lock mechanism on the door. i began pulling and trying to move the metal latch and sure enough the clicking started. There must be a piece of sheet metal that is vibrating on the inside of the pillar. I grabbed a pry-bar and firmly started pulling the latch in the direction of the front of the truck alternating between under the latch and above the latch to ensure it stayed flat and trued. As soon as i stopped hearing the clicking noise i did this twice more to ensure the heat expansion would cause this again. I took it for a test drive 30mins ago and all is good. Now i just have to fix the reverse parking camera on the tailgate. It will randomly be black at times and then when driving it comes back on as if normal.

Hope this helps.

davidsp101 · October 8, 2020

Thought I had it fixed. After 2 years of chasing this, the body shop identified a broken spot weld under the weatherstripping at that runs along the door sill. They welded it and I went noise free for a week. It came back today. Gonna lose my mind before this is all over

Edited October 14, 2020 by davidsp101
Recommendation didn’t work.