Rattle / chirp from engine vibration

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salinity
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:28 am
Location: RI

Rattle / chirp from engine vibration

Post by salinity »

My new-to-me Vibe has some chirp / rattle seemingly coming from the exhaust header / manifold area (I previously thought it was the torque converter because it was more prominent in D and R, but the sounds seems to be clearly coming from the manifold area). I got up under there today and noticed one of the bolts holding the lower exhaust manifold heat insulator seems to be missing (see pictures). There is one on the opposite side, so I assume there's supposed to be one here as well. I'm not positive this is the source of the sound, but does anyone know the size (thread count, pitch, etc) of that bolt and if there is a nut on the other side or if the manifold is threaded in some sort of way to accept a bolt?

I also noticed some sort of rubber "stop" just below the manifold area (in pictures) - is this normal? Just want to make sure it's not a part of something that broke off.
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2007 Base
andrewclaus
Posts: 482
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:38 pm
Location: Golden, CO

Re: Rattle / chirp from engine vibration

Post by andrewclaus »

Look at the bolt head on the other side. If a 10mm wrench fits, it's probably a 6mm thread, and probably 1.0 pitch.

With the rust you mentioned in another post, it may not be a usable thread. I suppose it wouldn't harm anything to try cleaning it out with a tap . A bottom tap may be needed.

Once I had some luck with a self-tapping screw in a situation like this.
andrewclaus
Posts: 482
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:38 pm
Location: Golden, CO

Re: Rattle / chirp from engine vibration

Post by andrewclaus »

I think the rubber-mounted block is a dynamic damper for the chassis.
salinity
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:28 am
Location: RI

Re: Rattle / chirp from engine vibration

Post by salinity »

Thanks all for the info all - I ran across another post with similar issues (lower shield rusted out around the bolts - seems common in the rust belt) and they slapped a hose clamp around it - think I might try that first.
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2007 Base
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