I have had a rattle and the source seems to be the "flex pipe" as the Midas guy claims as i had all the fluids flushed and new front pads and rotors done.
I did not have them fix at the time but they said it will get worse overtime...
What are my CHEAP options on getting it taken care of???
SEEMS to me that it was a Horible design to put that in the way of the oil filter and then the oil draining from oil changes gets all over that mesh flex pipe and ruins it..
Whould a small straight section of pipe be able to replace that??
Whats the purpose of that piece the way it is anyway?
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Bill Ellis
2002 Cavalier 2.2L OHV Sedan (AUG 2001)
2004 Vibe AWD Shadow (May 2004)
You can remove the flex pipe, but then would highly recommend a good set of motor mounts.
so the purpose of the flex pipe is too reduce vibration from the engine???
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Bill Ellis
2002 Cavalier 2.2L OHV Sedan (AUG 2001)
2004 Vibe AWD Shadow (May 2004)
not quite, its to let the engine move seperately of the exhaust, it some cases such stress can can break your header or another part of your exhuast system.
The (stock) engine mounts are relatively soft, allowing the engine to twist/flex under load.
Since the exhuast system is bolted to the chassis which is not twisting or flexing, something will break if there isn't something between the two (engin - exhaust) to absorb the flexing energy. Hence the "flex pipe" on the exhaust.
It can be removed and replaced with non-flexing exhaust piping, but, as mentioned above, it would be wise to install both upper and lower aftermarket engine mounts to limit engine movement. The drawback there is increased (sometimes a little, sometimes more) vibrations transferred to the rest of the car (engine mounts are no longer absorbing those vibrations) which you will typically feel to some degree.
If retaining stock engine mounts, it would be wise to retain a flex pipe in the exhaust system. Not doing so could easily lead to broken parts (manifold/header, exhaust pipe, etc.).
-Ferrite
how about relocationg the felx pipe so that when changing the oilf filter loose oil dont drip right into the Flex pipe piece??
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Bill Ellis
2002 Cavalier 2.2L OHV Sedan (AUG 2001)
2004 Vibe AWD Shadow (May 2004)
