Exhaust rattle???

Lincoln Luebbe

Lincoln Luebbe

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Exhaust rattle??? UPDATE

Okay a couple days ago I was driving with my windows down (a rarity for me) and I noticed as I was cruising that if I gave it a little gas I would get a little what seems like an exhaust rattle for a 1/2 second.
If I went about 30 mph and revved it every couple of seconds it does it every time. But it doesn't do it in park.

It was like a quick little buzz/rattle???

It seems to be coming from underneath the front end of the car, engine area. And on the way to work this morning I punched it to pass a guy and heard it for a more extended period of time (2-3 seconds maybe).

Has anyone dealt with this before? Maybe just somethig loose? I really don't even know what to look for. The kicker is I was just getting ready to do some exhaust work anyways...
 
I have something very similar. 2000 RPMs without fail in any gear and now starting at around 1500 and somewhere above 2000 (NVH). I thought it might be the main heat shield under the majority of the exhaust from the crossbar to just in front of the differential so I cleaned it and then removed it when the noise remained. It wasn't. :mad:

Next focus is on the front heat shield above the catalytic converters. The shop manual says it could be due to debris being caught up there and I believe that after all the gravel I've traveled over and what poured out from on top of the larger heat shield when I removed it.
 
Well keep me posted, it's gonna be at least Saturday before I can get up under it to check things out. I've heard similar sounds on other vehicles, but i know it wasn't there acouple weeks ago on mine and now it is... Also it's an 06-
 
Mine's an '04 so should be the exact same hardware. No way on this planet I'll get to it before next weekend. Check out that front heat shield first and let me know how yours goes if you get to it before I can.
 
I also have an exhaust rattle and at least on my car it's the drivers side cat. The honey comb inside has broken away allowing it to rattle and while idleing I put a mechanics stethoscope on the cat and that for sure is it. I ought to just gut them. ;)
 
The one I'm talking about and I believe Lincoln Luebbe is too is more of a ringing/metallic grind-type noise. I would definitely expect a cat rattle to sound differently. I've had those before. I wouldn't suggest gutting them as that will actually interrupt the scavenging effect you need for performance though you will want to do something soon. Broken pieces can blow back into the piping and clog it. Been there, done that. I had to drill holes in the cat just to drive the thing to a muffler shop!
 
I also had a rattle, on the drivers side. It was really close to the cat so I figured it was that. I almost told the exhaust guy to slap on a new cat on there for 300 more, I asked him if he could check the rattle out and he said it was the resonator. The shop from before took my resonators out for the borla mufflers and threw them out. A month later a went with flowmasters and I wanted resonators they put on some they had there, not the stock ones. I dont know if that stuff in the wall of the resonator came a little loose or it was hitting the car, but it's gone now, I should asked what it was, but it had to do with my resoantor. That noise got really annoying, it made me feel like my car was falling apart and I couldn't show off my exhaust without having an ugly rattle pop up..

Well I saved myself 300 so I'm very happy with that, glad I didn't get a new cat for nothing.
 
How did you guys figure out where it was coming from when you thought it was the cats or resonators?
It's my best guess to do it while driving, but in park it doesn't do it so I can't really get under it and have someone rev it to tell???
 
Well I could tell it wasn't coming from under me, it sound like it was coming from the passenger side. Also, on cold start since it revs a little higher, it would sometimes rattle so I would rush the the passenger side and look below before the rattle would stop. It was close to the cat and the resonator is close to the cat, in my case it was my res, but yours might not.

Rev it in drive with your foot on the brake, see if it will do it then. Or put it on a lift and inspect the area.
 
I had mine on the lift for that problem and it is the resonators. A rubber mallet or fist pounding on the mufflers produces the rattle in the resonators. I had a helper listening and feeling the resonators and the rattle was clearly coming from within them.
 
This may seem like a stupid question, but I know what/where the cats are, I know what/where the mufflers are (obviously) but where are the resonators? Are you guys talking about the "3rd cat" that people sometimes refer to?

On my 06 it doesn't really have that, it just has two pipes that look different/ a little bigger in that spot. I think i remember someone saying Lincoln got rid of the 3rd cat or 3rd muffler or whatever it was at some point...

Because if so I could just go with an X pipe when I get my mufflers slapped on I'm sure it would be cheaper???
 
Thanks a lot. I think that based off of that troubleshooting chart it confirms that it's either a loose portion of the heat shield or I need to go tapping on my exhaust system to isolate the noise.

Both of which can be attempted Saturday morning providing it doesn't rain!!
 
mrshl13 said:
The one I'm talking about and I believe Lincoln Luebbe is too is more of a ringing/metallic grind-type noise. I would definitely expect a cat rattle to sound differently. I've had those before. I wouldn't suggest gutting them as that will actually interrupt the scavenging effect you need for performance though you will want to do something soon. Broken pieces can blow back into the piping and clog it. Been there, done that. I had to drill holes in the cat just to drive the thing to a muffler shop!
Click to expand...

Oh ok. I was more or less joking about gutting them, but DO need to have the car taken in to have the cats replaced. A shop here in town quoted me $170 a side to replace.

When I hit the cat on the driver side with a rubber mallet it sounded like a coffee can full of change. The passenger side is quiet.
 
there is a metal cross-brace the holds the exhaust up in the channel about mid-point in the car. the exhaust comes off the manifolds, and is hung by four rubber isolators - 2 pre and 2 post mufflers - so between the forward isolators and the manifolds is a long stretch of tubing just hanging there - so it's possible that it clanks off the little cross-brace.
 
UPDATE:

Okay i pulled the LS onto the ramp last night and went banging away on my exhaust to isolate this buzzing/rattling. I am actually a little more confused than I was originally...
When I hit the passenger side cat I hear a buzz, but it doesn't seem like the buzz is coming from the cat, but higher up in the engine area? But also when I hit the pipe about 10 inches past the cat under the car the buzz seems louder and seems like it is the pipe buzzing somewhere? It's kind of a high pitched metallic "ping" noise.

Resonators, mufflers, and all piping from the middle of the car back don't make any noise at all. It still could be the large rear heat shield, but I don't know? When I was tapping on the heat shield there was rattling, but a much different kind.

Anyway, since I don't have access to a lift and its just me trying to isolate the noise I am going to keep at it. From what everyone said I don't think my resonators are bad and I am not convinced it is my cat since the sound doesn't seem like it is actually originating from inside the cat.
 
I'm still heading for that front heat shield when I finally get to mine. Same noise. There are heat shields over the manifolds too and those are probably closest to engine vibration though I don't think the noise sounds like it's coming from there.
 
Metallic Rattle

Another thing to consider, I had a metallic rattle comming from the front end, mostly audible at lower speeds that drove me nuts. I though it was something with the exhaust but I finally figured out it was the metal splash sheilds for the front breaks had lost a couple of the rivets allowing them to rattle.
 
SabastianU said:
Another thing to consider, I had a metallic rattle comming from the front end, mostly audible at lower speeds that drove me nuts. I though it was something with the exhaust but I finally figured out it was the metal splash sheilds for the front breaks had lost a couple of the rivets allowing them to rattle.
Click to expand...

i took mine off much better now looks better too, they tend to rust easily
 
Lincoln ls exhaust rattle.

sorry if this message comes up weird. I joined this forum cause I wanted to reply to some of you exhaust rattle complaints. I have an 01 Lincoln ls v6 with a 5 speed. my dad gave me the car and he had taken the resignators out because he wanted a little more sound. all it did was make a minor rattle. no big deal. well when I got the car, I put magnaflow exhaust mufflers on the back, and took out the stock ones. it sounds great til about 2500 rpms then it gets a horrible rattle. I figured it wasthe resignators. cause that's when it got that rattle when my dad took them off. now I have a loud exhaust so the rattle gets louder? hope this helps.
 
Is this a rattle like metal on metal or like the heat shield touching. Or is this a crackling noise, becuase when you remove the resonators you may get some unwanted crackling noises. Put an x pipe in and it should help some with that unwanted crackling.
 
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