beastman@

When I was rolling stock, I had an annoying rattle during certain RPMs. (around 2800-3000). I never could figure out what the problem was, but it sounded like it was coming from my exhaust or a heat shield by the cat.

I just put in a DC header, Skunk2 test pipe, and APEX exhaust. Everything bolted up fine. But the rattle is still there, and LOUDER, and happens during ALL acceleration now. Any time I'm on the gas it's pretty much metal on metal vibration sounds. Sounds just like a heat shield rubbing or something, but I can't find it. Has anyone else had this issue?

Edit: Fixed the o2 sensor issue, check pics below.





Modified by beastman@ at 12:37 PM 7/23/2008

Ketone

The rattling noise is probably your heat sheilds. Take them off and see if the noise is still there. As for the o2 sensor issue, rotate the test pipe at a different angle to see if you can get the 02 sensor to fit without rubbing against the car.

Rickdrizzle

I have that stupid rattling sound also. I don't have the heat shield on my cat, nor do I have one on my header. It's pissing me the hell off. It usually occurs around 2500-3000.

beastman@

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ketone &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As for the o2 sensor issue, rotate the test pipe at a different angle to see if you can get the 02 sensor to fit without rubbing against the car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Skunk2 test pipes are not clockable. That's not an option.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rickdrizzle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have that stupid rattling sound also. I don't have the heat shield on my cat, nor do I have one on my header. It's pissing me the hell off. It usually occurs around 2500-3000.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Mine did occur there, but now it occurs from 1000-infinity. I'm gonna jack it up again tonight and see if I can find the rattle. I have NO cat, and No heat shield above it. It sounds like a heat shield but I'm beginning to worry it's something else.

Ketone

I don't have any more ideas about the 02 sensor, but I used to have a rattle at the axle back where it was hitting the rear sway bar, only at certain RPMs, but have since changed exhaust's so the noise went away, so check there possibly.

Good luck finding the rattle. Try jacking the car up (putting it on jack stands), and start the car and see what you can find! Let us know what you find out

Tonyl507

I've had 2 integras with 3 different motors and quite a few exhaust / header / cat combos.... For some reason I always had this rattle - no matter what. Right around 3k RPM - sounds like a metal rattle.

At one point I had every heat shield removed, DC header, Magnafow cat, and a RSR catback. We even had it up on the lift and rev'd it so we could stand under it and look/listen - You'd still hear the rattle coming from the headers even tho we could clearly see nothing was touching and/or moving. It is a very common problem with integras from what I've read here on H-T. Some people solve it by removing/bending the heat shields in various places - but it never worked for me. I learned to live with it.

Right now I got a stock GSR and I can still slightly hear the same sound right at the same RPM - although it's quieter.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beastman@ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My skunk2 test pipe has an o2 bung, but the sensor is too long to fit where the bung is. If I try to get it in, the end with the wires hits the metal of the car. Are there shorter o2 bungs out there? Right now I have an open hole in my test pipe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

By a hole open in the test pipe - Do you mean you have no O2 sensor in? Like-there's a big-quarter sized hole in ur exhaust? Doesn't that sound like crap / throw a CEL?

btw, sounds to me like they welded the O2 bung in the wrong spot. Maybe it should have been a few degrees off to the side? Go to autozone and ask them to show you some o2 sensors and see if one brand makes a shorter o2 sensor then stock? I'm thinking you can't "rotate" the pipe or anything since its all welded/bolted.

Good luck

beastman@

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tonyl507 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


By a hole open in the test pipe - Do you mean you have no O2 sensor in? Like-there's a big-quarter sized hole in ur exhaust? Doesn't that sound like crap / throw a CEL?

btw, sounds to me like they welded the O2 bung in the wrong spot. Maybe it should have been a few degrees off to the side? Go to autozone and ask them to show you some o2 sensors and see if one brand makes a shorter o2 sensor then stock? I'm thinking you can't "rotate" the pipe or anything since its all welded/bolted.

Good luck</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes it's a big hole, and yes it sounds like crap, and yes I have a CEL. Driving to work was embarrassing this morning. Not only the rattle being worse, but the hole certainly wasn't helping.

Since it's a skunk2 test pipe I figured it would be high quality and I'd have no issues. Unfortunately not the case. I might have to post up photos tonight.

I'm going to try and fab up a 90 degree turn for my secondary o2 sensor. I got the spark plug non-foulers, but those make it longer, and it's already to long by itself. I need to figure something out SOON or I'm gonna get pulled over and f*cked by the police.

As for the rattle, I absolutely need to get rid of it now. The exhaust amplifies it so much that I will go nuts listening to it. I can't believe no-one knows of a true fix for the mystery rattle.

Tonyl507

For the rattle: check out these threads:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2259529
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1576197
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1163522
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=318119

or do searches for terms like "rattle rpm 3000", etc.

Your not alone. If I we're you, I'd put back on the stock Cat for now - just to make the O2 sensor problem better. It's prolly killing your gas mileage anyways lol

It seems to me that the rattle is just something you may have to deal with. Alot of people suspect that its the sound vibrations in the A-pipe, so maybe someone with a 4-1 header could chime in? Maybe they had a noise with the stock or a 4-2-1 and now they don't?

Regardless, if the sound is from some type of vibration within the exhaust - plugging the hole should help the noise drastically. Besides - test pipes aren't giving you that much more power, imo they tend to make honda's sound raspy, and they're very illegal. If it's a street car and you really want something to unrestrict your exhaust at that point, I'd go high-flow cat like Magnaflow. Also if your car is obdIIa or obdIIb, then a test pipe will screw up the ecu readings on the 2nd o2 sensor and cause a CEL light regardless.

try putting on the stock cat and take it from there - at least it will narrow it down a bit. Then maybe make sure the heat shields under the car aren't touching the exhaust. then check yur motor mounts, tensioners, etc. Hope my rambling helps, good luck.

btw, what year is the car? 2 door/4door? LS or GSR?

cetcivic

had a rattling issue on a non-honda car once,checked on top of the heat shields found a loose bolt..

B18CYAAA

I had that rattle between 2500-3000 rpm and was told it was because the header had cracked. I put on a comptech header and it took care of the problem. That doesn't really help you. I suggest getting the 02 sensor in there and resetting your computer and then see if there is still a rattle.

beastman@

Since the o2 sensor would not fit directly in, and I was going to back it out with a non-fouler anyways. I went to Lowes and hit up the plumbing section. Got a 90 degree angled peice that was threaded to fit into my non-fouler. I also got a foot of heater hose that fit quite snug on the threads on the other end. Cut the hose to fit, and a couple of zip ties later... this is what I came up with.



As you can see, Skunk2's test pipe puts the o2 bung almost at the very front. I don't know why, since the secondary is supposed to be in the back of the cat. But the cable was long enough to reach without being too tight, but it's not hanging loose either which is nice. The zip ties are basically for peace of mind. I'm hoping this DIY fabrication holds up. Only spent about $6 on the whole thing. Plans for a carsound cat in the future. I found em locally for $210 installed.



Cleared the ECU and haven't gotten a CEL in the past 30 miles. The rattling went back to it's old self, only chiming in around 3000 RPMs. There are now NO heat shields up front. So heat shield removal was not a solution for my teg.



Modified by beastman@ at 11:57 AM 7/18/2008

Rickdrizzle

Nice.

beastman@

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tonyl507 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It seems to me that the rattle is just something you may have to deal with. Alot of people suspect that its the sound vibrations in the A-pipe, so maybe someone with a 4-1 header could chime in? Maybe they had a noise with the stock or a 4-2-1 and now they don't?

try putting on the stock cat and take it from there - at least it will narrow it down a bit. Then maybe make sure the heat shields under the car aren't touching the exhaust. then check yur motor mounts, tensioners, etc. Hope my rambling helps, good luck.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

The header is 1 piece so there's no real "A" pipe.

I heard someone else mention motor mounts. Mine are probably really old (1998) so could replacing them really help? How hard is it to DIY? Sounds like I'm going to have to hoist the engine up.

Tonyl507

Just curious, is your header a 4-2-1 design or a 4-1?

beastman@

It's a 4-2-1 one-piece DC sports for a 00-01 GSR

part# AHC6511

fatfurious2

it could be an exhaust hanger ( the rubber ones) i just put a greddy exhaust on with stock cat and header and i have a rattle after i drive the car for 15 min. i know that at lease one of my hangers are ripped.

beastman@

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fatfurious2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it could be an exhaust hanger ( the rubber ones) i just put a greddy exhaust on with stock cat and header and i have a rattle after i drive the car for 15 min. i know that at lease one of my hangers are ripped. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't see how a rubber hanger would cause a metal on metal rattle. Mine were all fine when I installed my APEXi.

skynyrd006

I had that same rattle on my teg about 2 months after installing my greddy sp2. I replaced the cat and the manifold thinking it would fix it but it ended up being the resonator had already crapped out

beastman@

This rattle is NOT coming from my Header, exhaust, or cat, or heat shields. But it's there, and loud. I got under the car (on jackstands) while someone else held the RPMs to produce the rattle. It honestly sounds like it's coming from above the undercarriage. I was lying on my back looking up, right at the cat, it sounds like it's coming from beyond where I can see/reach. (If you look at the pics above, sounds like it's on the other side of the metal labeled "24") How much space is under the floor of the car? I'm about to remove my carpets and start digging. This noise is driving me insane.

alm0st4life

so does the check engine light come on with this mod? cause i put some headers on the other day and the o2 sensor hits the cv axle. i hafta figure out a way to stop it. cause its prob not good.

dothacker

you probably dropped a tool somewhere or some loose change between carpets

Slain

with a test pipe i believe it causes a resonance around 3k. i had a omni test pipe made that metal on metal noise around 2800-3200k. installed a smsp hi flow cat no more noise.

my set up was a itr motor,toda header and rsr exhaust. Only thing that changed was going from a test pipe to a cat. no more noise no more raw *** exhaust fumes.