ljtrumper

I have a 2002 RX 300. All has been well, but in the last month or so, my engine has gotten really loud. It sounds to me, like a lawnmower. This morning it was the loudest it's ever been - I could hear it over my music - especially when accelerating or ascending. It seemed to quiet some once the motor warmed up, but could still be heard. Any ideas what this could be?

hypervish

Check the flex pipe. It is known to make a car sound like a lawnmower when cracked/leaking.

kalali

You may want to pop the hood and take a listen more closely. I'm sure that will help you better pinpoint the source that sitting inside the car with the music on. You'll probably notice a big crack where the exhaust manifold meets the down exhaust pipe.

picomode

I too am having an issue with loud engine noise. I inspected underneath while running and found an exhaust leak at the joint between the Y-pipe and the main exhaust pipe. It is coupled by a spring tensioned joint. I can't think of why this would fail unless an engine mount was bad.

hypervish

The gasket do get old, and will fail eventually.

You can try tightening the joint (if it isn't bottomed out) to get a few more quiet miles out of it, but it'll need to be replaced in the near future.

JAB

I have had three exhaust leaks over the years: the flex pipe, cracked exhaust manifolds, and the oxygen sensor directly under the driver's seat.

ljtrumper

Thank you to hypervish, JAB and picomode for your wisdom and/or explaining similar issues. Kalali, I appreciate your insight but could have done w/o the belittling. I was merely expressing how loud the noise was, not that I was just sitting in my car comparing it to the music volume.

kalali

I apologize. My comment was totally unnecessary and unproductive. Didn't mean to offend.

ljtrumper

Thanks kalali. So the noise sounded like it was coming from under my hood but upon closer inspection, and a little crawling around on the ground, I noticed I had an exhaust leak under my car!! The catalytic converter had rusted a silver dollar-sized hole out of the bottom. Cost was about $255 for the replacement and $105 for the labor at Midas. And now she's purring like a kitten. Hoped this would fix the CE light/1135 code based on the proximity of one of the oxy sensors to the converter, but alas, the light came back on today. Anyway, I hope this helps someone who has a similar problem, I'm just sorry I started a thread regarding the motor and it ended up being unrelated.