Hey gents,

First post, third Honda I've owned though . Had an old 94 Civic EX, 01 Civic EX, now I've got a 2003 Accord EX-L, 2.4 I4 5 Speed 4 door. It's got about 78K on it.

Okay so yesterday my fiancee and I went up to Libby MT to pick up a puppy(birthday gift for her). It was about a 13 hour round trip, mostly highway, some small towns, so we were slowing down and speeding up. We're all about 5000 ft to 7500 ft above sea level up here, this car was originally an Ohio car, so it hasn't been run much at this altitude.

Today I step in it, and I hear a rattle beneath me. First thought was a heat shield, but it's not constant and is not consistent with bumps the way loose heat shield generally are.

One of the things I noticed is it is most common under decelerating between 2nd and 1st gear. Doesn't rattle when accelerating, very little intermittent rattle when holding at a speed, most noticeable when decelerating between 20-0(not just because of road noise, I tested quite a bit to come to this conclusion).

So my guess is the CAT is going out. Any ideas gents? Think I'm right or do you have any other ideas? I haven't gotten to hands-on test the heat shields, but just giving them a quick look, they seem okay.

Thanks!

-Philip.

 

Well i never had such problem,so have no idea of it.May be some one else can help you out with it.

 

Hey Brian,

Thanks for the response!

The more I listen to it, even though the rattle isn't consistent with bumps in the road, I'm thinking it's one of the exhaust brackets allowing the exhaust to move to far and rattle a bit. I haven't gotten a chance to climb underneath it and get my back dirty because apparently Mama Nature wants it to rain incessantly in Montana this week.

Thanks again Brian!

-Philip.