Okay, so I replaced my exhaust system nearly two years ago, and the center resonator started to develop a rattle. Probably provoked by the judder from the clutch Subaru was so kind to sell me. I can't get the dealer to replace it. ARGH!

 

Anyway, I bought the exhaust at another dealer, and they have already supplied me three center pipes! Now the third one is starting to rattle. Trust me, it's not the heat shields.

 

My problem is that it will be out of warranty after January, and even if I do convince the dealer in question to give me a FOURTH center pipe, what do I do when that one starts to rattle?

 

Please note, it's not the cat rattling.

 

Is the resonator a good thing in terms of torque, or can I hack it off and weld in a section of smooth pipe? Will this make the car untractable at low revs? Will it make it as noisy as a thing that is very noisy indeed??

Just a thought, see if you can get a new resonator on warranty BUT get the part only -make whatever excuse you need too (you want to do it for the education,you think they're compromising it during installation, whatever) then SELL it and either put the money towards just a pipe (probably louder) or find an aftermarket one (maybe a little louder).

 

good luck

that center bulge is the second cat.....not a resonator.....assuming your exhaust is like the US models. If not....then I'm not sure what to say.......

 

a resonator is pretty much just an open area with a few slats or something to shift the sound waves around.

It's not a cat, for sure. The Legacy II has a cat there, but Euro gen 1 Legacies only have the front cat in the Y pipe.

I have removed them on a few cars. the last was on my 85 Mercedes.

I kept having failure problems and it was very expensive from the Merc dealer.

I had a local muffler shop replace it with a straight pipe and got no effect at all other than a slight burble to the exhaust that you would not notice if you did not know the car.

Of course the Merc has a large full muffler and a cat as well as the resonator.

It WAS the heatshields. Tiny cracks in the mounting holes. Apparently these have allowed enough movement, once hot, to make the noise.

 

I agreed with the dealer's suggestion of simply cutting them off. Not really satisfactory, but the noise is gone and I can concentrate on hearing that lovely deep broooomm!!

 

Happy New Year

I had rattling shields also. I bought

large hose clamps and put 'em around the culprit and tightened it down.

Easy cheap fix.