PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

My dad finished the head gasket job on my car while I was out of state so the car would be ready when I got home, and long story short is after everything was finished the car made a small noise when it was first started, I thought it sounded like a sticking lifter at first. I've put a couple thousand miles on it since then and now that it's 20 or 30 in the morning, it's got a growl to it while it's warming up. Once it's warm the noise almost disappears, but you can still hear it when accelerating (if I have the music off) It's not loud at all, but even my friends who know nothing about cars ask what it is lol had the muffler shop put it on the hoist and by the time I got home I completely forgot what the mechanic said besides it was just behind the engine, about $220 for them to fix and something to do with it being taken apart and pressed or flattened and put back together. Bugs the *shoot* out of me that I have the newest car in the driveway and I'm the only car you can hear pulling out.

My dad's checked it out twice but the car warms up real quick and he can't hear *shoot* as it is, so I'll be finding this myself. Me forgetting what the mechanic told me 15 minutes after I left didn't help either

I really don't know what the heck I'd be doing without this site! As always, thanks in advance

Downpipe gasket??

Exhaust shop charged $220?? I would say you should go back there and find out what they did for that price. No take apart/flatten and put back together costs that much.

It was probably the downpipe flex tube that was damaged. If they replaced it or fixed it, I could see a shop charging that much.

However, I charge $50 for a downpipe.

Oh it's not fixed - my dads a retired mechanic, we do all the work it gets together. Shops automatically think that because you're young that you don't know anything. Put a smile on my face to look through the garage doors & see four guys standing around the hood grinning!

Is it an easy fix? That sounds familiar now, and you guys know what you're talking about. I just told my dad that it was the downpipe flex tube & he said that he doesn't think my car has one, so you guys see what I'm working with here lol

How are they normally damaged? If it's easier to just get a new downpipe rather than take it apart and fix it I'll go that route. You guys seriously rock, I didn't think I was going to get this fixed anytime soon!

Its not really a flex pipe, iirc, more of a ball socket joint.

Get the car up on ramps(chock the back wheels) and you should be able to feel exhaust coming out of where ever it is damaged.

Andrew(harofreak00) should have what you need.

I'll do that, the Bonne doesn't fit through the garage door so I'll tackle that in the daylight tomorrow. Guessing it'll just be easier to replace it?

You can't see it, it's in the very first part of the downpipe after the manifold, and covered by the outer shield of the pipe.

harofreak00 wrote:It was probably the downpipe flex tube that was damaged. If they replaced it or fixed it, I could see a shop charging that much.

However, I charge $50 for a downpipe.

i took my 2000 se into midas and he quoted me $1200 to replace my downpipe!!! i laughed and them im going somewhere else.

Still havn't tackled this one yet - I'm almost growing to enjoy the faint growl when the windows are down at 65

My downpipe has developed a rattle most noticeable on start-ups and remains loud until the engine has fully warmed up. Annoying. My cousin who is a muffler shop owner explained to me that the rattle is the inner sleeve of the stock down pipe that has rusted loose.
I bought a new 3" stainless steel downpipe (ZZP) and cat and cant wait to get it installed.

I think I've decided to leave that alone till next year when I do the exhaust

wdudetocool wrote:

harofreak00 wrote:It was probably the downpipe flex tube that was damaged. If they replaced it or fixed it, I could see a shop charging that much.

However, I charge $50 for a downpipe.

i took my 2000 se into midas and he quoted me $1200 to replace my downpipe!!! i laughed and them im going somewhere else.

after the ridiculous estimate for $1200 to replace my downpipe at the local midas muffler i decided to drive across town to the midad near where i moved from a year ago. there they removed my downpipe,cut off the broken flextube, re welded a new one on,then replaced the gastets and bolts and slapped her back together for a total of $175.... and as long as the welds good,its virtualy a brand new downpipe since the rest is so heavy duty.

golfyeti wrote:My downpipe has developed a rattle most noticeable on start-ups and remains loud until the engine has fully warmed up. Annoying. My cousin who is a muffler shop owner explained to me that the rattle is the inner sleeve of the stock down pipe that has rusted loose.
I bought a new 3" stainless steel downpipe (ZZP) and cat and cant wait to get it installed.

As I said earlier, the noise doesn't bother me and much as it did when it started so I'm just going to wait till summer when I can afford to sink a little money into the exhaust. I always have a hard time finding exhaust parts for the Bonneville - did you order both the downpipe and the cat from ZZP?