Greetings all... has anyone ever encountered a problem where the metal shielding around the collector is rattling? This is the unit right upstream of the cat where the two exhaust pipes are joined. It appears there is some sheet metal wrapped around the joint and tack welded to the cat. The edges of the metal are crimped together, and the metal wraps around the two pipes. When I tap the exhaust with a mallet, I can hear a vibration/rattle under the metal. I've tried shimming the metal and tightening the crimps to no avail. My next thought (besides replacing the exhaust!) is to try to remove the shielding. I'm unsure its function. There is heat shielding above the exhaust at that point. My presumption is there is a simple connector under it combining the pipes. Doubtful if cosmetic, but I cannot figure out why its there, or how to stop the rattle inside. At certain revs, it's loud and annoying. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!
Only a suggestion, but I would look into whether your car has a cat converter support bracket at that location because I just replaced the entire support/clamp on my car that was completely rusted to a falling apart, rattling against the heat shield condition.
I assume you're talking about the 98 2.8... Mine does the same thing, although not as bad as yours. If mine gets that bad, I'll just rip the shielding off. Or just install the headers I've had sitting around for 5 years and have a custom midpipe made.
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98 Z3 2.8 Roadster
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Thanks for the comments, yes a 98 2.8. I found after driving yesterday evening that after my shimming and crimping, the rattle is only occurring when cold... it may be livable.
So, I had this same problem when I first purchased my car. Drove me nuts. Last winter, I dropped my sub-frame to replace all of the bushings. Part of that process was to remove the back half of the exhaust. When I managed to do that, I decided to figure out where the rattle was coming from.
There were a dozen or so pieces of small gravel between the heat shield and the underside of the car. That was the only thing causing the rattle.
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