I have a 2000 Honda Civic EX with approximately 63,000 miles. Recently, I have heard something metal rattling/vibrating. The rattling noise doesn't always occurs at first. It seems like you have to be driving for a few minutes before the noise appears.

I took it to my local mechanic and they did not hear the problem so they can't diagnose it. They said they took it for a test drive but probably not long enough. However, I still hear it after driving for awhile. It just sounds like something metal is shaking below me. Sometimes when I'm idle at a red light, the noise occurs and then dies. When I hit the gas once the light turn greens, the noise gets a little louder but then dies down.

I can't seem to figure out what it could be since it doesn't always happen at first. Why would it only rattle after driving for 5 minutes? It may just be something minor but i woudn't know unless I can get someone to hear it. It's not that loud either. You would only hear it if no music was playing or music was playing at a low volume.

 

Possibly a heat shield or your shifter? I know my shifter rattles and makes a metal sound. Im not quite sure about the time frame occurance though. Would you say its more over your shift linkage (if its manual) or more towards the front or rear of the car?

 

It's an automatic and it doesn't sound like its coming from the shifter. It just sounds like its coming from beneath me (closer to the front of the car) when i drive.

 

I would check the head shield on the exhaust manifold if you still have it and if you have access to a jack i would jack up the car and check the heat shield on the cat. When the motor is cold just get under there and start grabbing stuff... see if anything is lose. You already have a general idea from where you think the sound is coming from, just need to investigate.

 

Most of the time it is the heat shield. Mine was doing the same thing and I tore of the heat sheild and it went away.

 

mine is doing the same thing (2000 civic si) but i think i dropped a scew into the dash somewhere that rattles every now and then. Im going to take my dash apart and find it, yea its that annoying. have you ever taken your cluster or dash or anything apart, maybe a lost screw like my situation. Cause I know mine isn't a heat shield problem.

 

I"m not mechanically inclined. I would have to take it to a shop to get it fixed. I want to try to pinpoint the problem before bringing it in so I can at least sound like I know what I'm talking about.

 

Just tell your mechanic that you believe your heatshield is loose and is vibrating. Tell him you hear the sound coming from directly under the shifter. Thats what i would say.

 

the same thing happeend to my 2000 honda civic. i still havent fixed it so i wouldnt know, but i kno for sure its either the heat shield or the exhaust manifold. take a look at them.

 

My cat heat shield was rattling, so yesterday I crawled under there and tore it off = fixed!

 

how much would you think it would cost to get it fixed at a repair shop?

 

Depends on if you know the person or not. If its the heatshield its not technical what so ever and should only take 10 minutes to life the car inspect and rip it off. If you dont know the person they might rape you in the butt...

 

that's what I'm afraid of. You can never tell if a repair shop is actually telling you the truth or just ripping you off. Do you think it would be covered by the warranty. I recently replaced the muffler and piping around it less than a year ago. Or is this totally unrelated?

 

It could be related and it could be unrelated, if it was related to the piping and the muffler it would be almost impossible to get them to fix it and say it was their fault. Thats one of those things that just happens. If you had a jack and jack stands or maybe a friend that does i would have him/her come over and take a look for you. Or maybe this is one of those things that is simple, which would be a good place for you to start trying to wrench on your car. Something really small, next would be an oil change.

 

i'm having that same problem with that rattling noise. i've yet jacked up my car to check the cat shield but it sounds like my noise is coming from the back of the car.

 

I took the car in, and it was indeed the heat shield. They just removed it. I guess I don't need a heat shield? Could not having one cause more problems down the road?

 

it's a common honda problem around the 2k rpm mark. i used to be a tech at a dealership and we used gigantic hose clamps to fix this problem. just wrap it around the cat and tighten

 

they already took the heat shield off completely. I've been reading online that most mechanics will just remove it, instead of replacing it. What's the point of the heat shield if it doesnt need to be replaced if it comes off?

 

the heat shield keeps the passenger side of the floor from heating up. but on the s2000 i think there is a good amount of air space between the exhaust pipe and the floor that it should stay cool enough and wont hurt nothing. as long as there is like 2 or 3 inches between the pipe and floor.

 

you can also check the little rubber stoppers that adjusts how far the hood sits up these stoppers are located under the hood and sometimes if they are too low the hood rattles against body so unswcrew stoppers until they almost come off fixed my rattling problem

 

It doesn't matter if you're mechanically inclined or not. It doesn't take someone thats passed all the ASE Cert tests thats been dealing with cars for years to just feel around for loose parts or get their under the car/in the engine bay and listen carefully.

Save yourself the money and gas and just devote some time to feeling around for anything loose. Get a buddy to help you. Have him rev the car slowly while you look around. And like everyone said, it's most likely a heat shield or some rusted parts that are loose and clanging against something.