rattle/buzz@2300 = cracked exhaust manifold?

[dsap100]

Hello everyone,

I have a 2001 celica GT that has developed a quite annoying and loud buzzing/rattling noise right at 2300RPMs in any gear. My son and I climbed around the engine as much as we could eyeballing and tapping things to try and find any obvious problems with no luck.

So, I took it to the dealer (please, no hate mail for this) and they determined that the exhaust manifold is cracked and will need to be replaced. They also said that they have to replace the heat sheild which covers the manifold. They said that you can't replace one without replacing the other and that both parts must be replaced because removing bolts from one damages the other.... or something.

Does this sound right?

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, and the car has about 98k miles and the only modifications have been the addition of a K&N short ram air intake which was installed well after the rattling problem had started.

[alltracman78]

They are wrong about the heatsheild.
Sometimes when you unbolt things from the exhaust, the bolts break, due to the heat.

But, even if they break, the heat shield will still be ok.
It sounds like they are just trying to get a little extra $$ from you.

Does that make sense?
If not, let us know, and I'll try to break it down a little more.

[dsap100]

I was kinda thinking they might be padding the repair some. The heat shield looked pretty simple and from the outside looked perfectly fine. I realize the underside that faces the manifold may have been a different story, but when I tapped and banged on it it sounded solid as a rock...

I'm still a bit surprised that a cracked exhaust manifold would produce the sound it was hearing.

I'm certainly going to ask the service "manager" to go over the parts replaced and exactly why they needed to be replaced.

Thanks, for your comments.