Hey guys,
I know this topic has been discussed numerous times, but from the search I did (this forum and others), my problem still wasn’t solved.
Anyway, when I first start the car (cold start), the exhaust rattles quite a bit, as if a heat shield or something was rubbing on the rear subframe.
It quiets down after I drive for a while and the car gets into operating temp.
Even then, lets say when I’m turning (left or right, doesn’t matter), the sound comes back at around 1300-1600 RPM. It stops rattling before and after 2000 RPM.
I checked a few of the things a few of the threads on this forum stated, like jack up the car and check for loose heat shields. I did just that. The heat shield for the cat is as stiff as a doorknob. I also checked for the one where the resonator is and noticed that I didn’t even have a heat shield there…
I then started the car (while it was jacked) and revved it a few times. There seem to be 2 areas where my exhaust may be griding on: a part of the subframe near the rear-left side of the diff, and perhaps the arch on my rear swaybar (arch that’s meant to clear the exhaust. It rattles whether its idling (cold), or when its turning (cold or hot), so I don’t know the problem. I do know that I’m missing two exhaust hangers, one of the two on the muffler (the left side, it rusted off, will need someone to weld me a new one), and the single hanger just before the muffler (there isn’t a weld on the muffler that suggests that the exhaust had one there in the first place, but from exhaust system pics and from the rubber grommet on the hanger on the car side, it makes me believe that there should be one there (perhaps the hanger that pushes the exhaust a little further away from the car?)
Here’s a drawing I drew to illustrate the exhaust hanger thing (my explanation was awful):
Anyway, where could this be coming from? I held the exhaust as tightly as I can so it wouldn’t move and revved the engine, but it still had enough force to move the exhaust… Either those missing exhaust hangers are severely needed, or my engine mounts are too soft (shouldn’t be, since I still get a lot of vibration anyway, so its not soft enough that it isn’t dampening…
Really ticking me off. Other than the hatch problem, this extra-noisy exhaust is keeping my car from passing safety…
The exhaust from after the cat is about 3-6 months old by the way, only rust thats began to form is surface rust after the mounting bolts after the cat.