Cascade Crew

J-Dog-III · Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:33 pm Post subject: Annoying Exhaust rattle....

For some time now my 89 RS has developed an exhaust rattle...when u stand behind the car it sounds really nice, but once u head over to the sides it sounds horrible. I havent really had the time to jack it up and look underneath it sense it's my daily driver, but i was wondering if anyone knew of any heat sheilds or something down there that's causing it? First i thought it was my cat, so i replaced that (good thing i did, it was trashed) but it still makes the horrible sound

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:35 pm Post subject:

checked the condition of all your exhaust hangers? checked for possible exhaust leaks?

I assume by your discription it does it when the car is at idle.

J-Dog-III · Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:37 pm Post subject:

It's towards the front end of the car, seems a little infront or behind the front tires. But i do know i have an exhaust leak..i took it the the exhaust shop when i had my cat replaced and they said they couldent do it becuase it was rusted to much and i had to buy a stud kit?

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 11:41 pm Post subject:

Yous should be able to do this without jacking the car, but it might help to do so. Try and do it when the car is cold.

On the passenger side of the car, look directly behind the front tire and you should be able to see the cat and the cat bracket after it. Make sure the brackets is all there and fully connected.

Assuming that is complete, find the metal heat shield over the cat and see if it is loose, or if the cat is touching it anywhere.

If both those are fine, try manually moving the entire exhaust by hand in various places to see if you can nail down the noise. The two usual places are going to be the cat heat shield, and the muffler though.

It's also possible that when the exhaust shop put the new cat in they pulled the exhaust to close to the body when they reconnected everything. I made that mistake once and mine rattles to this day. Try and make sure that there is no way for the exhaust system to move far enough to contact the heat shield or the body.

QwkTrip · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:47 pm Post subject:

If it ends up being a heat shield be sure to replace it and not just toss the old one away. Especially around the catalytic converter. It's a safety issue.

aaron_sK · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:56 pm Post subject:

Flaming carpet = fun. Cool