Installed breathless V2 but.... - Smart Car of America Forums : Smart Car Forum

Smart09 · 07-02-2009, 05:51 PM

Rattling from exhaust. Took out and reinstalled but same problem. It's a faint rattle but I can hear it. Anyone else?

chumly · 07-02-2009, 08:33 PM

Mine rattles a little when at idle but smoothes out above that,I found one of the bolts came loose ,I tightened it and there is still a slight rattle but I can live with it.

Black · 07-02-2009, 09:02 PM

is that the dual center tips....

chumly · 07-02-2009, 09:14 PM

Mine was but I modified it to work with my trailer hitch.I cut it off at the downturn and welded an elbow to it so it exits to the back instead of pointing down.What can I do with the dual outlet? Any suggestions?

Smart09 · 07-03-2009, 11:23 AM

Yes I have the center exit exhaust. But it's like metal grinding metal. Could it be my heat shield?

BreathlessPerformance · 07-07-2009, 07:14 PM

Do check the heat shield.

Smart09 · 07-11-2009, 01:26 PM

i looked at the car again and it makes that grinding noise only when my A/C is on. once in a blue moon does it do it with the A/C off. i did everything i was supposed to do right. would removing the heat shield be dangerous?

SmartMadness · 07-11-2009, 01:46 PM

We used to have the VI, VII and VIII on our smart car and had the same issues.

The noise you are hearing is most likely caused by the exhaust being too close to the heat shield and at times touching. The stock engine mounts give the engine lots of movement and with more and more miles the rubber on the mounts softens up and allows even more movement.

Couple of things you can do...

One is doing some tweaking to the heat shield to give it plenty of clearance. It may look like you have plenty, but once the engine moves the gap narrows. The other thing you can do it take the car to a local muffler shop, tell them the problem and have them heat the exhaust pipe (they should be able to tell where it is touching by the scratches on the pipe) and tweak it a bit along with the shield.

Last thing!!! Important! Make sure the bolts are on tight and periodically check them (we used to check them every 500-1,000 miles) and make sure they are tight. This exhaust has a tendency to have some vibration that may cause the bolts to loosen a bit. A bit of thread locker may help with that or locking washers.

Hope that helps a bit.

Smart09 · 07-12-2009, 10:34 AM

thank you.. im going to go ahead and do all you said.. it is quite annoying the rattling and metal scraping.