GSF exhaust rattle

[IMD]

I've just had a GSF replacement exhaust fitted by HiQ, on my 1990 230e, as my old exhaust was on it's last legs. It's a pre cat model.

I picked it up and to be honest, it sounds awful. Not from the backbox, but a constant slight metallic rattle from under the drivers seat area, both at idle and under revs.

Does this seems like a heat shield problem or are GSF exhausts prone to sounding cheap and nasty! I hope not!

Are there heat shields along the whole length of exhaust or just on the manifold?

Ian

 

[jaymanek]

Cheap exhausts will sound rubbish, however the rattle is more than likely a heat shield they have disturbed..
Ask them to recheck.

Nothing will sound as quiet as an OEM system as its made of much much thicker steel an weighs about 5x as much.

When i changed the Eberspacher exhaust on my R107, it took 4 of us to manouever it into place...

The original had lasted 19 years, and it was still going strong, but some idiot in a focus decided to brake at the last minute and my exhaust took the brunt of it... thankfully..

 

[grober]

Sounds very like the heatshields on the twin down pipes to the catalytic converter as Jay says. They usually go (corrode) at the ends where they are crimped on to the more substantial main pipe. A temporary fix can be achieved by recrimping using jubilee clips but they don't last long in the hostile hot environment. At least that way you can eliminate any other exhaust fault causing the noise. These heat shields are on the exhaust itself and not to be confused with the silvery coloured heat reflective material which is screwed to the body. Its mainly located in the lower engine bulkhead area near the exhaust manifold down pipes and between the cat and the body to protect the propshaft centre bearing and between the rear box and the boot area above it. Fitting the xhaust might have dislodged some of this but unlikely. Ironically you are probably now hearing the rattle at the front because the rest of the exhaust is now quiet.