Hey Everyone,

So not too long ago I bought a used G37S 5AT, and it made noises from the exhaust whenever it was running. So naturally I took it to the dealer and they replaced the muffler, and the sounds definitely got less. However, there was still a ticking/rattling that would occur.

So I took it to a different dealer and had them look at it, demonstrated it to the Service Advisor to make sure he heard it too, which he did, and they took a look at it. After browsing some threads here, I thought it might be a bad Y-pipe or something, but the SA called me back and said that small rocks got into a gap between the car and heatshield, and those are what caused the rattle. He said though it wasn't a warranty item, he had the tech take out as many rocks as he could, but didn't think he got them all. He said when I bring it in for the next service, they can try again to get some more out.

After now having the car back for a day, the noise is definitely much less, but I can still here some ticking.

My question to you guys: Is that something common? I've never heard of rocks getting into heatshield gaps. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm quite curious as to how common this is.

 

never heard this before. It's not really a car related issue IMO. It could happen to any car if the previous owner drive it in the same area I guess.

 

Are gaps typical in the heatshield areas? I've owned tons of cars and driven on a ton of surfaces and never had this occur. Wanted to see if this was particular to G's and if I needed to be aware of where I am driving more so than I currently do.

 

I had the same issue when I was doing donuts in the snow. I had salt / rocks fling up into the heatshield and get stuck and it was causing the issue you're describing.

 

How did you end up dealing with it? Did you try taking them out yourself?

 

I ended up tapping the cats lightly with a rubber mallet. I also had them in my heatshield over top my driveshaft.

 

This may be a dumb question, but did you do it while the car was running? Did you jack it up, or put the car up on ramps? I'm curious to know so I can try to do it myself, and get rid of that noise.

 

I wouldn't recommend doing it while the car is running as the exhaust gets very HOT very quickly.

You might also try a blast of high pressure compressed air if you have access to a compressor and hose.

 

^ What he said, I did it on a car lift. If you don't have access to one, then use a jack and jackstands while the car isn't running.