weird sound in rain

[oompaloompab0i]

before i had my CAI and it rained like crazy, my engine or something on the passenger side of my SI started vibrating like crazy on and off, and a weird like clicking sound occured. i thought my engine had water in it...(that was about 2 months ago)but yesterday when it was raining pretty hard it started doing it again (but i had on a SRI, so it wasnt anything dealing with that). like it scares me, like my car violently shaking...does anyone know what this is or have they experienced this?

[fishboy]

dude i have that exact same noise! sounds like it's coming from the passenger side wheel well or something. some deep grumbling or something. it was making that noise this morning along the way to work and i got it once before when it rained hard. the last time i thought something got caught in my rim and i got rid of the noise by plowing through a puddle. but then it happened to me today and i don't now what it is. how weird. i was gonna make a thread about it, but i thought people would think i was crazy. :) but yeah i don't know what it is, someone help please.

[fishboy]

oh by the way i am lowered on gcs and i have a cai. not too sure if this makes a diff but there's some additional info about my car anyway

[Low Rider]

Is it like a banging underneath the floor on the passenger's side?

[priest6479]

Do you have an aftermarket exhaust, I had a prob with my greddy, since the pipe was larger it would rub right where it bends near the body, when it would rain it would steam right against the body....Ever spill water and get water under the pot on a stove while your cooking, similar effect. I had all sorts of problems with that exhaust, but right under the passenger seat is where it was rubbing and I heard vibrating all the time.

IF you get a chance, lift the front up and check the pipes for rub marks.

[oompaloompab0i]

well...maybe that's it, but would it vibrate that violently? and click too? well, im not lowered or anything but it could be that water from rain would hit it...i get that it will steam but not vibrate...i took it into honda dealer cuz i thought it was engine problems, but there wasnt any.

also does anyone have like a burned bottom? when the muffler shop put my car up to put on my aftermarket exhaust, he saw that the bak part under my ep (where the trunk is) seemed like it got burned. he said it looked like my fuel something was leaking...??? anyone else? or anyone with info on this?

[priest6479]

Well i'm not saying that is your prob, but with an aftermarket exhaust this is what I heard on mine, and it wasnt steam just hitting the pipe, if you have a ceramic stove at home drop some water on it and put the pot right on top of the sizzling water, it pops and crackles.

Like I said it made all these sounds because it was too close to the chassis.
but water seemed to make it 10 times worse, when Im driving it felt like someone had a belt sander underneath the car, then it would snap and pop.


Gotta break it down, when do you hear it, dry weather, wet weather. Does it happen all the time? when it first starts, things like that.

[Dunrick]

yeah I get this with my Borla. Its not your intake, its the exhaust.

When it gets water on it, for some reason it wants to shake. The tapping noise is the exhaust literally bumping under the car. If you hold your e-brake, you will feel it tapping. This is fine. Its not water in your car. The car sounds really throaty. Its just cause the exhaust got some water on it. It goes away real soon. It scared me at first. I'm used to it now here in WA.

[priest6479]

Heh wait till your in deep snow, you'll love it!

[oompaloompab0i]

haha cool, alrite...just weird cuz it didnt work like that with my stock exhuast..even in the rain

[aerial]

thas exactly what happena to me when it rains start ratleing pasanger side i think exahust or intake never found out what it was i run stainless u think that be the problem

[aerial]

only when rains but it goes in about 10 15 sec

[fishboy]

well i'll be damned. thanks for the explanation guys! i have a skunk2 cat back and that sound always freaked me out. :)

[blackthreat]

Same problem here. It is the exhaust. One day it wasn't raining, but I drove through a puddle and it started up, so I jumped out of the car, and I visually witnessed the midpipe rite after the cat banging agianst the underbody. if I ever get a chance the work on my car im going to pull the midpipe and try to bend it alittle, to give it a little breathing room.

Oh ya by the way I have a Fujitsubo RM01A

[ep3hatchattack]

Don't wait around to see what problem may arise. Take it to the dealership and get it checked out asap so they know its not your fault. thanks, dave

[priest6479]

Ok here is how I fixed it, this is a surefire fix guys.

Go get an exhaust hanger from a local autoparts store,
this is the exact piece I used

http://store.summitracing.com/product.asp?d=8&s=296&p=2881&searchtype=ecat
there is a U bolt and a bracket that bolts onto your exhaust pipe.

The end swivels on this bracket which is nice.

- - - -

Lift up the frot end of your car

go underneath, look for that metal heat shroud above your ehast pipe, right after the cat.

(You will notice that the pipe is kinda loose here)

what I did was attach the hangers to the pipe and bolted it to one of those bolts that hold the heat shroud on.

Kept the exhaust nice and tight, pushed it away from the chassis, never vibrated once. Give it a shot, email me if you have any questions priest@ep3world.com

Sorry if i'm not so descriptive, but once you get the bracket and get under your car with the bracket you can figure it out pretty easy.

[silver ep]

Thanks for the tip priest6479, I've had this problem for a while and could'nt figure it out. I'll have to try your solution!

[andy]

Heard this on my way to work this morning. I too thought maybe I
had sucked up a bit of water - but it went away after maybe 5-10
seconds.

I'm using the Comptech cat-back. It's starting to hit rainy season
around here, so if I notice it more, I'll try your solution, priest.

[aerial]

Originally posted by ep3hatchattack
Don't wait around to see what problem may arise. Take it to the dealership and get it checked out asap so they know its not your fault. thanks, dave

hey man how can he take it to da dealer if we r talkin after market exhaust r u lost

[oompaloompab0i]

well, i guess it is. once i parked in the garage, i put water on the muffler while it was still hot, and sure enough, it shook a little. iono if this is bad for the car or not though (a vibrating exhaust?) anywho ephatchattack, i did take it to the dealer before i knew it that other poeple experience it, but they said nothing was wrong, so i figure its the exhuast.

[Mickey]

I also had the same problem. The other day on my way home, it was raining and windy. There is also a strong vibration somewhere in the wheel well(passenger side). The sound is so annoying. It was very windy then that is why i Thought its just the wind blowing the plastic thing in the well. BTW Im also using comptech exhaust.:(

[devilot]

I actually had this exact same thing happen to me for the very first time this morning. However, I do not have an aftermarket exhaust. I am completely stock. I had a similar knocking sound on my previous EX and it turned out to be the CV Joint going bad. I checked the boots this morning and they are not torn, so I have no idea what to think. It doesn't happen constantly, only when I get up to speeds above 45 mph.

[priest6479]

I had that happen in my old truck, very bad thing. Good thing you caught it.

[dofu]

hmm... interesting... my exhaust does "tick" when i drive in the wet... i noticed that the last time i drove my car... and as for the violent shaking, do you feel it on the steering wheel? if i hit any body of water, i get a lot in the wheel well, making a loud (strange sounding) splash in the wheel well, shaking the wheel pretty violently, almost like its trying to rip the steering wheel from my hand...
and btw... is that heat shield under the car important? the one that came with my car burned on my last exhaust, leaving it in almost two pieces with a big gap in between...

[priest6479]

It does what it's called, a heat sheild, I think it does help against heat and sound, but I don't think it's that vital. not like your exhaust pipe will break free from your car and run off into the night screaming like a banshee and sodomizing sheep without the heat sheild in place.

Try it

[DingDong02Si]

Ummmm.. That is soo weird because that just happened to me last night coming home from work!! I was going to post about it and here you already did. Also what is weird about it is that I have a GReddy Evo 2 exhaust system. It has just started a lil after I got it! How do I fix it and is it bad for my car?? Thanks alot -Matt:( :(

[priest6479]

Yeah same exhaust system that I had, Its not bad for your car, but that sound is pretty damn violating I have to admit. Just try use my solution that I posted, worked like a champ.

[aerial]

Originally posted by DingDong02Si
Ummmm.. That is soo weird because that just happened to me last night coming home from work!! I was going to post about it and here you already did. Also what is weird about it is that I have a GReddy Evo 2 exhaust system. It has just started a lil after I got it! How do I fix it and is it bad for my car?? Thanks alot -Matt:( :( how do u like it i just installed mine sunday i had invidia n same vibration but only when rain or pudles n is not constantly i think nothing wrong whith it g reddy evo2 is quiet invidia is loud i mis it

[Az02Si]

I think some of you are a ways off here.........Mine shakey BADLY and sputters and will NOT REV,then i turn it off,back on,and its fine,almost like water is getting to the IAT,dropping the temp DRASTICALLY and making the ECU go crazy untill the car is turned off...When mine does this i turn it off,then back on while the cars moving and its fine after that untill it hap[pens again.How the hell would water on the top of the exhaust make the car sputter and buck,and not rev? L O L

[priest6479]

Everybody has differnet problems.
I am speaking from my own personal expirience, I went from a stock 1 and what ever inch pipe to a 2.25 inch wide pipe and it kept rubbing the chassis, and it would def pop and vibrate when water hit it. It was annoying, loud and I found that I did get water in my exhaust and it would cough and pop and feel like it was choking.

I had to basically let the car sit for awhile and let the water evaporate.

I wasn't a huge fan of my greddy exhaust.

[Slip_Angle]

Crazy! I had this happen to me twice now both in the wet/snow (Yes it was snowing here today/yesterday .. grrrrr) and my exhaust note would get louder. The engine seems to sputter a bit, but it was hard to tell becuase I was in slow traffic and couldn't rev it to see...Is it possible the O2 sensor is also producing strange readings if it or the exhaust cools quickly? Wouldn't it trip the engine light?

BTW: I have a 2.0" midpipe.

[EP3driver]

well, i guess it is. once i parked in the garage, i put water on the muffler while it was still hot, and sure enough, it shook a little. iono if this is bad for the car or not though (a vibrating exhaust?) anywho ephatchattack, i did take it to the dealer before i knew it that other poeple experience it, but they said nothing was wrong, so i figure its the exhuast.

This is a known issue. The mid pipe gets wet and expands creating vibration and it hits the undercarriage channel above it. Years ago some civics had the same issue and there was a TSB to replace the pipe with a different pipe to resolve it but for the EPs there is no TSB as far as I know to address it.