Today I noticed that when I started the car (2001 SE Auto 79K), it sounded like someone secretly installed an aftermarket exhaust while I was sleeping last night. Its not horribly loud, but its definitely not normal. It is noticeable up until about 3500rpms. The deepest sounds occur when the car upshifts.

I don't have too much experience with the maintenance side of things, but it just seems wierd that this started, as far as I can tell, overnight. I didn't bottom out on any speed bumps, or run over any curbs, so I doubt its from some kind of impact.

Without jacking the car up, I took a quick glance at the exhaust and from what I can see everything [I]looks[I] fine. No rust, and no signs of corrosion.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

 

my guess is a small hole in the flex section of the stock y-pipe. common problem

 

if its from the front prolly your flex section like soonerfan said. if its from the rear its the flange from your bpipe to your muffler. rock the tips of your muffler, does it move around more than usual ? im assuming its your flange thats messed up. very common

 

If it is the joint between the B pipe (middle muffler) and the muffler expect both flanges to be bad. The rest of the stuff should be quite pretty. It seems that for some reason just those two flanges are made of iron/steel the rest is all stainless steel.

Mine went bad about 3 years ago and I had it repaired 2.5 years ago, a simple insert was put in and the exterior was welded together. Everything has been great since. I expect the repair to last longer than the original.

Note that if you do go the repair route, which should be much cheaper, in my case 125$ vs. 800 for both pipes), make sure that the length that the flanges take up is replaced. Otherwise the muffler will sit closer to the rear axle/beam and will probably knock and rattle against it over mid-to-large bumps.

 

ive seen many cases where the midpipe is fine but the rear section flange was no good and vice versa. just a matter of where you live and how bad rusting in your area is. you could get it fixed easily like bert said though. just have another pipe put inside or have another pipe welded externally to bridge the pipe where the flange would be. if you get it done around nyc it should be 60-80 bucks for a easy job like that

 

thanks for the info, the sound seems like its coming from more towards the center of the car as opposed to just behind the muffler in the rear.

Hopefully it's not gonna cost me much to get this fixed... grad school+girlfriend+christmas=empty pockets

I'm pretty sure that bringing it to the dealer is going to be blatant robbery, so do you think a Midas or similar shop is safe to go to?

 

Put the car on ramps or jack stands and find the problem.
Then you can call around for estimates based on what you find.

No surprises, mate.