And they would needed you to leave it for three weeks to ‘evaluate’ the problem. And then after that wait, they might have told you they couldn’t replicate the issue.

 

Not in my case, they pulled it into the shop and brought it back out within 30 minutes. Said no way to effectively get rid of the squeak and a new door panel has been ordered. Should be here in 3 weeks, of course we will see on that timeframe but the good news it wasn't a diagnosis drama.

 

@H1Tad nice fix and thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

I admit that I bought a newer vehicle that was still under warranty so I wouldn't have to deal with issues like these. I work on my other cars, I didn't want to have to work on this one too. However....

I don't have the bandwidth to interact with the dealer service department over a squeaky armrest. In fact, of all of the NVH in the Defender cabin (if you could really call it that compared to my other vehicles - one of which my wife wears earplugs when we take it out on trips), I feel incredibly petty to be complaining about the miniscule noises coming from the roof rack, the A-pillar (which I mean, I guess is there, if I really focus on it) and the arm rest. This noise really did get on my nerves every time I actually used the arm rest as an arm rest.

It's the kind of thing that I would batch up with other complaints and have handled when I'm getting service done or with a group of other issues. I plan on bringing it in later this year - right before the warranty expires - to handle a bunch of little things like sensor recalibration and diagnose an engine that seems to rock the truck way too much at cold start and idle. But I'm not bringing it in for just a squeaky arm rest. Especially since I know they couldn't fix it before I leave on a big trip.

 

You did the right thing by taking care of it yourself. When our 2021 was new, I had a noise coming out of the left side of the dashboard that sounded exactly like a squeaking dog toy. It squeaked with every manhole cover, sewer grate or bump in the road I hit. Dealer had the car for 3 days and I get handed a repair receipt with "issue not found by the technician".

When I got home I took apart the left side of the dash including that small storage tray area. Lined the back of everything with adhesive felt and put it back together. It's been silent ever since.