Does the engine sound louder up front or from the rear? If up front, check
for a blown exhaust gasket or a loose exhaust manifold. If the exhaust
sounds louder coming from underneath the car, then you may have also blown
the gasket at the catalytic converter (if you have one).
Here is a tech article on doing a exhaust manifold and catalytic converter
upgrade:
http://www.crx.org/southcal/tech/dc-header/default.htm
The first few pages will show you where the gaskets are located.
I suppose there is also the possibility that you have an intake manifold
leak. But that usually will cause erratic idling (sometimes no idling at
all) along with back firing (too much air is being sucked in...).
If your car is equipped with a catalytic converter, you could have also
blown out the inners. This will cause the exhaust note to be louder since
you now, in a sense, have a straight-pipe (resonator) to the muffler. The
only way to check this is to pull the catalytic converter and look
inside. Not to revive an argued discussion, but this was one of the
downfalls to the "CatCo" after market catalytic converters. While still
agreed that it is the inexpensive catalytic converter available (at one
time Summit Racing was selling them for as low as $69 (USD) complete with
gaskets...), some people have said that they don't last more than a year ~
the inners blow out and some have claimed that it clogged their
muffler. Others have stated that theirs have been performing flawlessly
for over 2 years.
But... many did say that because of it's low price, if it lasts a year,
then it's well worth it. The reason why this claim was made is because if
you contact your local Honda dealership and ask what the going rate is for
a stock catalytic converter be prepared to have your world rocked when they
quote you around $700+ (USD). And that did not include the gaskets nor the
mounting hardware.
I was one of those people whose world was rocked. I called a few other
local dealers and got about the same price. I eventually went with the
Random Technology high-performance catalytic converter. Actually, the wife
did.... it was a Christmas gift as was the DC Sport exhaust header.. She
figured that I might as well upgrade both while I was at it. :^)
Anyway, while the catalytic converter R&R is fairly easy and straight
forwarded, the hardest part will be the loosening of the nuts and
bolts. In my case, the spring loaded nuts and bolts came off easy (this
was an area that many found difficult on theirs...), the other three flange
nuts and bolts were frozen on solid. No amount of penetrating oil and
torch heating was going to break them free. I had to have a local muffle
shoppe break them free for me.
I recommend replacing the mounting nuts and bolts (including the
springs...) as well as a new gaskets.
Robert K. Kuhn
CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal)
1990 Honda CRXsi (http://drive.to/jiggy)
ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
On 12:00 AM 07/29/02 -0400, George Freeman said...
>Mike-
>
>Ticking noise is normal- it's the different metals in the exhaust (mostly
>the cat.) contracting as they cool off. Any way to elaborate on the engine
>"getting louder?" Do you mean it groaned or raced in rpm? Is the exhaust
>relatively new or did you perhaps blow a hole in the resonator (look under
>the car and see if the bulb behind the cat is rust color)?
>
>
>
>George
>'89 DX-Hybrid-D16Z6, 122k miles
>"Seats, Suspension, Engine, MSD, next=dyno"
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
>Behalf Of Michael Girard
>Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2002 11:47 PM
>Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED] '
>Subject: CRX: Somethings wrong...
>
>
>I was driving today on the freeway and was doing about 80 for two miles and
>the car just jerked forward, the engine got louder, but it still continue to
>run. The engine just runs louder now, but it still runs. Anyone know what
>this is?
>Also, whenever I park the car, it has a ticking sound. Is this something I
>can fix? eventually it stops, but if I can fix it, it would make my life a
>whole lot easier (wife is convinced I got screwed on it).
>thanks
>Mike
>91 CRX
