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Whenever it is raining or there are puddles on the road my 2001 honda civic dx starts to rattle like crazy. It rattles and pops .. it start from the engine then vibrates under the front passenger seat/foot area.
I have checked the heat shields and they are tight.

I have replaced the exhaust from stock to a magnaflow cat -back... problem still occurs,

any ideas???

thanks!

 
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same problem here in my 02 ex... its almost scary...its like a loud banging noise from the passenger side wheel well(i think) and the bottom of the car vibrates!!! it almost feels like my tire is going to roll off the axis...which its not its bolted down..

Any ideas??? we are having a heavy down pour here in so cal...need to make sure my car is safe to drive!!

 
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ive had this happen when i was idle in the rain. i got a skunk2 cat and im pretty sure it is the pipes vibrating against the floorboards. could be wrong but thats what the word on the street is.

 
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yup, it's the exhaust pipe banging against the bottom of the car. I've had that same problem under the same conditions ever since I installed my catback exhaust. People on this site have said that when the hot exhaust pipe gets wet, a thermal shock occurs, resulting in intense vibrations. And since the new exhaust pipe is bigger than the stock pipe, there's not much room between the bottom of the car and the pipe, resulting in the loud banging.

 
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ive heard of some people wrapping the pipe in a heat resistant insulation. dont know how safe it is but just an idea. for me ill just deal with the sound every 1 in 5 rainstorms

 
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hmmm thanks for the replies but my cat back isnt very big..the pipes i mean... but yeah lets say it was...how do i fix it?

 
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i would look for something heat resistant to wrap around the part of the pipe where it is contacting the floor boards.

 
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ive had this issue as well. ive spent days and days with the car on a lift with a water hose trying to duplicate it. finally happened. first time it happened i thought my hub and bearing was falling apart as i was driving!

 
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so did you figure out what the problem was and did you fix it?

 
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i think it is inevitable in the rain. theres really no problem its just that with stock pipes there is room for the the "thermal shock" to occur and when you put in your new cat the bigger pipe doesnt have as much room as your old one did. if all else fails go get it checked at an exhaust shop

 
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i have a 2003 honda civic LX Coupe with 57K miles.

this problem started about 2 years into ownership of the car (when i had well under 25K miles). if i was driving through A LOT of rain...i would get that rattling noise. if i slowed down it went went. if i accelerated it would come back. very strange noise i must say. i never got around to take it to the dealer b/c i was at college and i didn't drive all that much anyways.

now that i've graduated and i am commuting 70-80 miles a day for work, i haven't heard it at all! i've driven through some pretty torrential downpours, snowstorms, you name it...no vibration or sound anymore. i guess one could say i have officially broke the car in ha ha.