exhaust rattle LOUD

[Dean W]

I just purchased a 1998 Camry LE with the 2.2L engine, a/t combo with 155K miles. It has a bad exhaust rattle from the front of the engine when the car is in drive & low rpm's. As I accelerate, the rattle increases to a certain level & then levels off. I have a 2000 Solara with the same engine/tranny combo & it doesn't have this issue.

I have checked & tightened all the bolts on the manifold cover. I did find that someone had removed the LH exhaust manifold stay & the RH manifold stay was missing a bolt. I reinstalled the bolt in the RH stay, but the noise remains. I don't have the LH stay. the service mrg & parts mgr at the Toyota dealer informed me that the lack of the LH manifold stay wou;dn't case the rattling that I have. Who knows if they are correct? I have tried to isolate the noise using a mechanic's stetoscope but I can't seem to find it. I have checked the motor mounts & they look good,also retorqued them.

No it's not the timing belt or the pulleys or a bad bearing in the a/c or alt.

How can I identify the noise's origin & fix it? I have looked for 2 days thro all the old posts & still haven't come up with an answer. Your help is appreciated.

[oopssorryy]

For some reason almost all Camrys (that I've seen) from the 3rd gen seem to have flex pipe issues. Mine is very loud and vibrates everything, because I'm missing about a third of it (rusted out). That would be my first guess.

[Chris Crash]

There's a bracket under the oil pan, that's probably loose.