Hello, I just registed here and am so glad to have found you guys ;)

Please help:
I've got a 94 Metro 3cyl that I've had for almost 4 years and its got 129,000 miles on it. I haven't had hardly any problems with it but, I think that the person that put on my muffler don't know what they're doing. -I've went through 2 since I've owned the car, is that normal??

For the last week or 2, I've had this fairly loud rattling noise coming from the back. It's the muffler or the tailpipe. It doesn't do it constantly, just various times. Usually when I take off, shift into 2nd or 3rd and once in awhile just driving along. Sounds like maybe the muffler or tailpipe is loose or it has a hole in it? I want to know if this is something that I can possibly fix on my own, I don't want to have to ask anyone for help. Would I be able to get under there and tighten up some bolts or something?

I appreciate any help/advice anyone can give me. I will log on frequently and respond ASAP because I want to get this problem solved ASAP so, I can have the peace of mind to go out of town ;)
Thank you,
Melissa

I suspect that you have a heat shield that has been bent in such a way as to rattle against the tail pipe because of normal engine vibration. Get the car SAFELY SUPPORTED BY JACKSTANDS (PLEASE!), or otherwise squeeze under there with it on the ground, and look for the heat shields (above the resonator, intermediate pipe, and muffler) feel with your fingers the gap bewteen the shield and the exhaust and bend them higher and further away. One of mine did this, and when the driver gave me the complaint - this is all I had to do. This could also be a bad muffler or resonator (the small enlarged section of pipe between the cat and muffler), sometimes they disentigrate internally and rattle.

-MechanicMatt

Ok, thanks for your help, I'll check that out ;)

BTW - it may help to bang around on the exhaust with a soft hammer or piece of wood, to isolate the rattle.