I've drug the bottom of my '00 somewhere in the fields or something, there is an exhaust leak and a rattle when parked.

 

I think the rattle is coming from the exhaust manifold, and the leak is coming from where the manifold meets the first cat. No check engine light, its just progressively getting louder and more annoying, and after driving in some deep snow wednesday, its just too much.

 

Looking for some really cheap ideas to fix it, I tried taking the loose heatshield off today and broke my trusty pocket knife. ! Things stronger than it looks like.

Lots of suggestions on this do a search. rattle, exhaust noise, etc

 

nipper

There are a few solutions for this.

1. The factory shield packing.

2. Exhaust header wrap.

3. Cut them off tin snips less than $20 at your local hardware store.

 

With the header wrap there are two methods.

1. Cut strips from the wrap and install instead of the factory stuff. You do have to buy a kit and will probably use 4-5' of it tops. It's in shop supplies and I don't see reordering soon, you get that much.

2. Get the rest of the kit (stainless ties, high temp silicone spray for weather proofing) and wrap the manifold as you would any header. Cut some half inch pieces off the roll to insulate the rest of the mounting points.

Gaskets will be obvious. Bolts, springs and nuts at the flex joint behind the cats are often junk. I'm not fond of the factory shield packing as even new it disintegrates with vibration ie tapping the shields back into shape if neccesary after crimping. A die grinder with a cutting disk and hammer and chisel are usually needed to disassemble, along with a bunch of nuts, bolts washers to remount the shields. I manage with a sharpened screwdriver, small channel locks and mini ball pein hammer for the tinsmithing on the manifold shields. Allow1 1/2-4 hours depending on interuptions and skill level.

 

If this isn't specific enough let me know.

 

Now can someone help me with making warranty time on these bloody headgaskets without throwing good prep and assembly out the window?

Now can someone help me with making warranty time on these bloody headgaskets without throwing good prep and assembly out the window?

 

:confused:

 

nipper

Here is the $1 fix for rattling heat shields on my exhaust right at the Y. Go under the car and rap the shields lightly to see if rattle. if so get a 3" hose clamp and install it where it rattles. Did that over 1.5 years ago and its noise-free. After a couple of the years the clamps will rust out - just replace them.

I did the exhaust pipe wrap routine on my '92 Sentra. After cutting/prying off the old heat shield, just started wrapping the pipe from the rear forward. Fastened with some stainless hardware I bought with the wrap, then finished it off with some special high-temp paint. I used the Cool It-Thermo Tech wrap. Bought it online from autopartswarehouse.com, I believe.