Civic EG

I've got a '94 DX hatch. In 2010, the previous owners got a new exaust system through a shop. OEM muffler, resonator(are resonators a stock feature?), and the pipes all look new.

It sounds great when it's not rattling(which is most of the time), it has a low tone and absolutely no raspiness to it, but it is a bit loud(not loud like a cheap canister) especially since I shift about 500rpm late for next-gear power. However, when I first start the car it often rattles. Rattle is expected, actually.. but sometimes it doesn't. The rattle is always at an RPM less than ~1000/1500(I don't have a tach so can't be sure), sometimes it will rattle at idle(in which case I gently hold the throttle until I'm ready to go), and sometimes only when I'm driving. Odd part is, the rattle goes away after I've been driving for a while, maybe ~1 mile or less. If I turn the car off for 5-10 minutes or more, and start the car back up the rattle comes back, and goes away same as I just described.

I shook my muffler a few times, and I could only make a noise if I made a rocking motion side to side, after a second of doing that I could hear a pebble or rock moving around to the pattern. Then, I jacked my car up and took the muffler off, to find a lot of black stuff caked onto the pipes. I'm assuming carbon buildup. I began to shake the muffler, and bang the end of both pipes on the concrete; these black flakes would fall out but I'm not so sure it was from inside the muffler itself. Everytime I would tilt the muffler one way, I could hear what seemed like a handful of sand rolling softly to each end. I'm assuming it's chunks of carbon in the muffler, or maybe the baffling fell apart or something. I'm only posting because nobody seems to have ever had this kind of rattling in the history of the internet?

I'm looking for a new exaust, but I prefer not to have a canister-style muffler and I want something quiet. All the aftermarket mufflers seem really loud to me, even the twin-loop. Additionally I don't want to put a nice new muffler on and have the carbon chunks/flakes fall into it and start the rattling again.

I'm honestly not sure what I'm trying to accomplish with this post, but maybe some external input could change my thoughts. Thanks

If you don't want the tipical fart can on it you could do like me and put a thrush glass pack on it I had one from my old truck and I got rid of it and kept everything I had put on it so I was bored and put the glass pack on my car it has a good tone just a lil raspy after about 5200 rpms and its only like $20-40 I think they might be in the $30s range I'm unsure

it sounds like the previous owner had a cheap muffler installed and the gut just fell apart and rattled around inside.

i have a completely stock exhaust with this:
http://www.cherrybomb.com/Catalog/turbo_offset_-_center_3_x_7_oval/turbo-16804.aspx
for a muffler. it has a nice tone but not loud, just enough for me as the driver to enjoy it but not get sick f it on highway drives.

for those thinking "ricer" mod... i got it on sale for less then half of any other muffler and was willing to remove it if it started to sound like a fart can

nd1983 wrote:it sounds like the previous owner had a cheap muffler installed and the gut just fell apart and rattled around inside.

But if that was true, wouldn't it always be rattling then?

Ah, it fixed itself. I guess the gas I was initially using was really poor quality. I switched to Shell gas now and after about a tank the rattle went away. Sometimes I feel like it wants to rattle, it'll start to ping, but it doesn't end up rattling. When idle, it pings slightly also as if the muffler was hollow. Oh well, it sounds much better now and I don't feel bad rattling up a series of apartment complexes when I leave at 2am.

Material either finally made its way out of the muffler is just "jammed/clogged" in a corner of the muffler

Got some updates on this.

The rattle came back, it's been back for a while. Only occurred when it was rainy or cold, usually. The baffles are definitely bad because the muffler coughed up a rusted metal cuff from one of them, but that wasn't causing the rattling; only a slight pinging sound.

The rattle however, was caused from a dent under the muffler itself. It's an oval muffler, and the dent created a loose area of metal next to it. This loose area vibrates up and down causing the rattling. Meaning this vibration is dependant on the condition of the metal from humidity, temperature, etc.