Hi.
Couple of questions.
1) What is the H and M buttons on my center console next to the Emergency Flashers button?
2) Just bought this car, and I have noticed a rattle coming from the rear (right side?), when hit some bumps. What could this be? Previous owner said may be coming from trunk ... possibly spare tire hold down not tight.
Just wondering if any known problems on this - is it likely a bad shock problem? Have not had chance to check the trunk yet.
Thx.

 

the h and m is probably hours and minutes adjustment for your clock....

 

Duh, I am sure you are right. Rather stupid of me to not relate that since these buttons are 'near' the clock!

 

Now how about that rattle? Maybe I should check for a rattle in the back seat since the previous owner did have a small child. ....... do they still have rattles for babies??

 

I would check the trunk first to make sure everything is secured in there. Most of the tools to change the spare tire are clipped onto the backside of a thin board that covers the spare tire. Push the carpet out of the way, unscrew that plastic **** that holds the board down and then lift up. It's also good to know that you have everything in there. One of those tools might have come unsecured and fell into the spare tire well and are rattling around.
You can also try bouncing the rear of the car to replicate the noise. Just push down on the trunk a few times to get it going.
The rattle could be a lot things so these are just a few ideas.

 

Ride in back of car when someone drivers over pot holes. Listen if noise appears immediately under right side of rear deck. Press down on deck in case it is what is rattling.

 

Thx for the replies.
Took the jack out of the trunk and checked that the few tools that are attached to the spare tire cover do not appear to be the cause of the rattle.
I did find that the hubcaps do cause some noise but NOT the rattle that I am trying to find.
My next step is to take whole spare tire and tools out. Then at least ride in back seat and maybe even get into the trunk while my wife drives around a little ........ if I dare!
I did raise the rear up on a jack and checked a few things underneath like the gas tank and especially the exhaust system. All appears secure there.
Will keep looking and give feedback.
BTW - Looks like the previous owner did NOT take good care of the car - at least maybe did not do the regular maintenance. I changed the engine air filter (spent quite a bit of time trying to get the top cover screws+ back on!!!) and the cabin air filter and both were quite dirty, especially the cabin air filter which had tree pieces in it, etc. Question - car has 106,000 miles on it, is it time to change the spark plugs? What other thing(s) should I check as part of the regular maintenance (oil change pending)?
Thx.
BTW - pushing down on the rear end quick test appears to not indicate bad shocks.

 

I know what you mean about previous owners not taking care of things and my cabin filter probably looked like yours!
Yes, you should check the plugs for sure. If the $8 cabin filter wasn't changed then probably the plugs haven't been touched. I had to do this to my car as well and the plugs seemed to run the engine just fine but when I took them out and compared them to the new ones there was a huge difference! FYI: Plugs are kinda expensive for these cars because they use iridium plugs. Oh, and be careful when disconnecting the electrical connector to each plug. I broke the little clip that holds the connector into the electrical plug. I think age and heat of the engine bay makes them brittle because I did not force anything.
Keep us posted about the rattle. Does it really sound like a baby's rattle???

 

Doing a google search, I believe I found the cause of my 'rattle' problem. It appears to be the rear sway bar bushings. I put a few cut off cue tips into the one side of the car, as a test, and sure enough the specific noise (someone described as something moving around in the trunk) has gone away. Going to stick some cue tips in the other side and let it go a little bit as a bandade solution, until I have the new bushings in hand. Looks like a simple job (2 bolts each side) to do........ as long as bolts don't break trying to get off!
BTW - most sources say put lithium grease around bushing. Others have put plumbers tape around the sway bar and/or used both. Maybe I will just go with the tape. I figure its good as long as the bar doesn't move around in the bushing which it was doing.

 

Thanks for posting back. Let us know how things go.