Exhaust noise inside

When I first start my 97 SPI up it sounds like an exhaust leak as the car vibrates and makes a noise like the doughnut gasket off the exhaust manifold has come loose. Ok I take it to Midas and they say there are no external leaks in my exhaust system. None, nada. You can hear it real good in the car, but standing outside with the hood up and you can't hear anything evenly remotely that sounds like an exhaust leak. It gets better after the car warms up some. Any ideas? Engine mounts? Exhaust system rubbing against the frame? A guy at Ford told me that my engine mounts needed to be neutralized. You do this by looosening all the mounts, jack the engine up, retighten the mounts. This sounds bogus to me. How much do they pay those guys, anyway? I know-too much.

"A guy at Ford told me that my engine mounts needed to be neutralized. You do this by looosening all the mounts, jack the engine up, retighten the mounts. This sounds bogus to me"


he is probably right. if theres a lot of vibration and noise it may very well need to be neutralized. i would definatly lift it though and look for yourself before you go through all that trouble.

Yep, you're giving me some good advice. I think I will take it. There's 1 engine mount by the timing belt cover and a couple mounts on the bottom of the tranny. They don't call them motor mounts or tranny mounts, they call them insulators and they are torqued from 50-68 ft./lbs. I'm gonna neutralize them. Thanks for your input and I'll get back to you and post how it came out.

Never heard of neutralizing. Pardon me but sounds like BS. You need to get the car up on some jack stands and get underneath when you start it up. Check the tube going from the exhaust to the EGR valve (if you have one). Check the EGR valve it self too. But since you can't hear it with the hood up I'll go with the rubbing against the body. Make sure all of those rubber mounts are in place. Shake the whole tailpipe around and see if it is hitting anything solid. You could have bent something. Did you check your turbocharger :confused:

I did a search for "Engine Neutralizing" and came up with nothing. I think your mechanic is trying to neutralize your wallet. :nono:

I got underneath it and loosened the mount bolts, put a jack under the pan and retightened the mount bolts. It did nothing to help the problem. While I was under there I shook the exhaust system really good and one of the rubber hangers had come loose. the exhaust was up against the body underneath the car. I put the hanger back, It wasn't damaged (How did it get off in the first place) and no more problem. Thanks for your posts to everybody. I didn't let the dealer neutralize my wallet.

Glad to hear it's fixed! Do you ever get off-road? A rock could have knocked that rubber mount off. Maybe you need to neatralize your mechanic! :chair:

Glad to hear it's fixed! Do you ever get off-road? A rock could have knocked that rubber mount off. Maybe you need to neatralize your mechanic! :chair:

I know what happened now that I think about it. I pulled over onto a soft shoulder that was muddy and got stuck about 6 months ago. The wheels were in the mud all the way. I rocked it and got it out. I can't believe I didn't remember this. Well, all's well that ends well.

every enngine vibrates differntly, and the mounts are not placed to optimize every specific motor, its set to fix the MAJORITY of motors.

There ia s TSB on teh ZX2 about neutralizing the mounts. its a real thing, anyone saying it isnt doesnt know what they are talking about.

every enngine vibrates differntly, and the mounts are not placed to optimize every specific motor, its set to fix the MAJORITY of motors.

There ia s TSB on teh ZX2 about neutralizing the mounts. its a real thing, anyone saying it isnt doesnt know what they are talking about.

Show us the TSB.

Show us the TSB. :bs: Is this it http://www.fcsdchemicalsandlubricants.com/fad/tsb/031515.pdf ?

Looks like I was wrong on this one! Aplogies to AltecZX2 :frown: