Rattling noise

I have a rattling sound coming from the top of the dash under the little speakers. I have removed the little speakers to see if they were loose or rattling and its not them. It almost sounds like a pencil in their, ya know when a pen or pencil would fall in the vent for the ac?
But I have not dropped anything in there. I never put anything up there and it just started a few months ago. I am thinking about taking the dash out. I have the service manual but I would like to know if anyone has done this before and about how long it would take?

I appreciate your time in advance :biggrin:

1997 Eagle Talon Tsi AWD
K&N FIPK
BoV (this weekend)
60k service (this weekend)
Boost Guage (this weekend)
The rest is stock but not for long!! :evillol:

With the dash off push on any piece that it might be coming from. If you deadened the sound by pushing on a certain piece, then secure it. If the rattling doesnt happen with the dash off, put it back on and press on a few areas of the dash. If you deaden the sound, again secure it. I've had that same rattling before and it was just lose panels. Also, are the speakers up there aftermarket? They could also be touching the speaker and causing the racket.

If you havent had the dash off ever or still have stock speakers, I bet they are blown. Take off the dash and look at the cone. If there are any rips, tears, cracks, etc. I would go get some new speakers.

They are stock speakers and I have never had the dash off. The speakers are not blown. Anyone have an idea how long the job of taking the dash of would roughly take.

It is kind of time consuming, maybe an hour or two to get it all apart.

I had a sound like that too a little while ago and I thought it was something inside my car but actually it was just a loose rubber mount on the firewall that was making some metal shake around.

Did you have to remove the dash or did you find it without removing the dash?

Thanks for the response.

John