Searched but can't find anything similar to what's happening... I have a '97 EX coupe and when I'm in the car by myself I don't hear it, but when anyone else is in the car (especially when someone's in the front and in the back seat) I can hear something banging every time I hit a bump or a dip in the road. I've got under and looked and I can see the the exhaust gasket is leaking where the tailpipe bolts to the muffler piece of the exhaust and I can move it a little bit if I pull on it real hard, but sounds NOTHING like the sound I'm hearing in my car when I'm driving... Anyone else had this problem? It sounds to be coming from the passenger side rear so not sure if it may be the suspension (as I only hear it under load) or if it's the exhaust system because they're both on the same side. It sounds like metal hitting metal so I was thinking it was the exhaust but I don't see where someone sitting in the back would change anything about the position of the exhaust system or making it rub more than with no one in the back. Hope I didn't sound too confusing... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

No ideas?

 

it's me and your mother ....but seriously maybe it's bushings?

 

is it when u turn, striaght line, braking or all the time? id jack up the car and take off the tire. check out your shock and sping and inspect the bushings like jordanhxc said. is the car lowered or have any other suspension mods to it? im not to familiar with that year civic, does it have a rear sway bay? a friend of mine had a busted endlink on his teg and it made a terrible thumping noise when he turned kind of hard or had peopl in the back seat. take a few pics if u have a camera and people can help u out a lil better.

 

Found my problem... The red circle is what's wrong. If you look in the small black circle you'll see a dark spot and this is where the suspension arm is contacting the exhaust pipe just in front of the muffler when it's under load and when I hit any kind of bump or dip in the road. I just can't see this being a factory job; I'm thinking it was some jakeleg @ jiffylube learning how to do exhausts... anyone else's exhaust happen to be like this or is it missing an arch to clear the suspension? This is a '97 Civic EX coupe with no suspension mods. Any comments?

 

?

 

Yeah! that bend over the control arm should have been about 4 inches in depth.

 

Think i'm just gonna unbolt it and replace it with a whole new assembly (bolt on from the suspension back) any ideas or suggestions, i don't want something real loud though...

 

Well, maybe I lucked out - was looking through all the receipts (had all the records when i bought it) and the muffler was just done in town here in October and has a year warranty so I'll be calling them tomorrow morning. To me, this definitely constitutes warranty repair. Let's hope anyway...