I have a 97 SH with i/h/e/high flow cat and I was driving back from school my VTEC sounded louder than normal. Before it would smoothly engage into vtec and now it sounds like it has no intake.

The past couple days I've been hearing a lot of rattling coming from exhaust. It sounds like my cat has gone bad. Then today from class the rattling sound stopped, but my vtec sounds 3 times as loud as usual.

Anybody have any problems similar to this?

Thanks

 

get under the car and check for exhaust leaks. its possible something came loose,

sounds like nothing to do with VTEC at all

 

Ill check my exhaust for any disconnections.

Thanks for the help and Ill keep you informed.

 

I just went and checked my exhaust for any disconnections and I did not see any, but it sounds like there's a leak somewhere. I guess have to bring it to a muffler shop and have them check where it is coming from.

One more question: How do you know if your high flow cat has gone bad?

thanks

 

VTEC will sound louder if you have a leak. (or no mufler)

 

how old is the exhaust? the baffles in the muffler can rust/break apart, causing rattling and louder vtec...take it to a muffler shop like midas they should look at it for free

 

Its an APEXI WS and its about 2 yrs old.

The thing that is weird is that its my intake gets louder once it engages in VTEC. It also feels like it struggles when it hits VTEC like I lost a lot of power in my powerband. No CEL or anything.

I do hear a big leak coming from exhaust though when im getting on it a little.

It just feels like I loss power once the rattling disappeared from my exhaust. I dont know if my CAT when bad or what.

Anybody experience these kind of issues?

 

I brought my car to a local muffler shop and they told me I had a crack in my "expensive" DC header. I was like that is just great. I mean I know the header isnt much at first, but when I modded the collector I received siginifcant gains out of them.

Now I have to customize my header again and hopefully the hissing noise disappears when I install the new header.

Oh well, thats the life of cars I guess.