Rep Power: 0

Over the past few months I started hearing a faint rattling sound which would come and go at various engine loads, then eventually an exhaust leak sound.

Then a few weeks ago I went for a long trip, about 400 miles. When I came back, the noise was fully developed. Think "Hey where's the Harley?" whenever you move off from a stop. Ok maybe not quite that loud but you get the idea.

When I looked under the car, it was like "Well there's your problem", lol. Basically, there was nothing left of the flange at the back end of the front exhaust pipe. There was some slight contact between the 2 pipes, and the bolts and springs were still loosely sitting in the mid-pipe flange holes which would cause the rattling noise.

The bolts could not be reused as they were bent. The threads were quite corroded anyway, so I got new bolts and nuts but reused the springs as I find the springs in the aftermarket exhaust kit are a bit too long and very hard to get the nut started on the bolt. Even with the old springs I used a spring clamp to squeeze the bolt and spring which allowed enough bolt to stick through for the nut to catch.

The mid pipe and its flange are in great shape, I just cleaned it with a wire wheel in a drill it to remove remnants of the old gasket.

The 3 studs at the converter flange came out ok. I removed these in 2014 when I replaced my oil pan gasket, and back then I didn't have an impact wrench. This time around, I sure was glad I had the impact. The nuts were pretty stuck on the studs and they actually came out as a unit, like a bolt. I put in new studs and nuts to replace them.

TLDR;
Put on a new front exhaust pipe and associated gaskets/hardware, and the old Civic lives on for another day, lol.

 
Rep Power: 229

good job.

 
Rep Power: 222