Exhaust? Rattling Engine Noise Help
 

Hello,

After getting on it one day, I started hearing a rattling noise coming from my lower engine area, more towards the driver's side. It doesn't matter if its in gear or neutral. It seems to only rattle at a specific rpm, which makes me believe it has to do with a certain vibration range. I have had exhaust leaks before and it doesn't sound like one I have ever experienced. When I get on it hard, there doesn't seem to be any loss of power and when the rattling is not there, the exhaust sounds leak free. Does anyone have any idea what this might be or have you encountered anything like this before? Thank you.

Regards,
Peter


new video:

A long shot here on this idea, but ---- are all the spark plugs still "properly" tightened? Just something to check (on a cold engine) --- before you blow a plug out of failed threads.

It's your catalytic converter. Needs replacing. The insides are worn out and making a metel rattle sound.

While that is a possibility, there is no way to definitively know its the cat from reading a post on the intertubes. The possibilities for the noise are almost endless. The rattle could be a loose heat shield, something hitting the exhaust pipe, a loose/broken pipe, bad cat internals, bad muffler internals... the list goes on. The only way to truly diagnose it is to get under the car (with the car off) and start banging all over the exhaust with the palm of your hand, all while listening for the rattle. If the rattle is in the exhaust, you should narrow it down pretty quickly this way. Good luck...

I have a video link at the bottom of my main post hoping that people could take a look at that and also compare it to my description in order to try and figure out best what the noise could be, thanks! Let me know if I need to re-link it.

My .02 says it's a heat shield. I listened to that noise and my money is on a heat shield. Whenever I've had issues with rattling like regardless of certain rpms, I'd take a look there. They get loose quite often. You can re-tighten it or get rid of it and wrap some of the exhaust, if that's what's giving you the noise.

Alright sorry for the delay. So I tried adjusting my midpipe. It still continued to rattle. I changed my oil and swapped out my midpipe back to stock. The rattle is still there. Where does that leave me?

Did you check your heat shields to make sure they aren't loose?

Forgive me if I seem naive or uniformed, but do the heat shields surround the cats? If not, what are the heat shields. Thanks!

Don't know for sure but heat shields are usually overtop the exhaust manifolds (providing you haven't swapped aftermarket headers on) just look like cheap sheet metal or athin aluminum covering the manifold and/or other items along the exhaust system. Not sure if stang's have them anywhere else other than the manifold.