Lose bolt on Exhaust hanger C. Stripped? PIC
 

I recently just had a Racing beat full exhaust system installed and a few days later I here a rattling noise coming from the passenger rear shock tower. I look under nether the car and start tapping areas of the exhaust and see that the C hanger is loose. The bolt is causing the rattling. I tried to tighten it buy hand but it seems like it cannot find the threads. My question. Is the screw going directly into the sheet metal or was there some sort of pressed sleeve in there that may have fallen out? Oddly enough the screw is still staying in place. I don't see a area on the back of where this bolt goes into that would have a nut. Any help would be appreciated. I searched and couldn't find this exact issue.

Attachment 656979

I'm having a little trouble understanding your problem. If you can post a photo, that would be a big help.

The rubber exhaust hanger you pictured is used on the Y-pipe. There is one on each side. A bolt passes through the metal sleeve on the hanger and is tightened into a nut that is welded onto a C-shaped bracket on the Y-pipe. If you're saying the bolt can't be tightened but isn't falling out, my guess is that the nut welded onto the C-shaped bracket has broken off. You might be able to fix this simply by removing it and putting a large washer between the nut and the C-bracket, or you might need to get a new nut welded on to the Y-pipe bracket.

Here's a photo from my car to illustrate what I'm talking about. The green arrow is pointing to the nut that is welded onto the bracket on the Y-pipe.

I hope this helps, and good luck getting it fixed.

might be rust welded on?

Attachment 656257

Hopefully this helps

like I said the hanger sits flush against part of the frame. With out a lift I just can't get a good view or a good angle to come up with a solution. For now I have it zip tied pretty tight to stop the rattling of the nut that is behind the frame.

Sorry, I forgot there was another set of those rubber mounts way up there holding the front part of the muffler assembly. I just peered under my car and couldn't see the bolt you were talking about, though I can actually see the rubber mounts through the slots in my wheels. I know I replaced those when I installed the exhaust in summer 2012, but I can't remember what the arrangement was.

If I have some time over the next couple days, I'll try to jack the car up and get you some photos. Hopefully somebody else will be able you help you sooner than that.

I took a look at this part today. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be of much help to you.

The bolt that holds the rubber mount in place does appear to thread directly into the frame rail section of the floorpan. I can't see any kind of nut behind it, and I can't feel the backside of it either.

I would guess that either the threaded hole in the floor/frame section of the car has stripped out or the bolt has stripped out. Why you seem to be unable to remove it is slightly odd, but I guess that can happen if there's just enough of a thread left on the bolt to snag whatever is left in the threaded hole. What I still don't understand is how this is causing rattling. If the bolt can't be removed from the hole, how is it allowing enough side-to-side movement for there to be rattling? I guess it doesn't take much. Is it possible that a chunk of the frame section has broken off due to extreme corrosion, and is still attached to the threads of the bolt? I suppose you should get it up on a lift and get a better look.

I did take a picture of my hanger, but it doesn't really make this problem any easier to understand.

Thanks for the picture and your assessment is dead on.

The rattle comes from a decent amount of play in the side we cannot see where I have to believe there is a nut attached. With it being loose there is about a 1/4 of play. There is a hole on the other side of where its mounted too but I can't feel anything. Maybe I can use a tool to tighten the bolt while someone holds the other side if that's what that hole is actually used for?

I took it to a general repair shop and they pretty much said " We can't fix that " They put it on the lift and didn't attempt one thing or offer a solution.

I'm sure any competent mechanic can fix this in 5 min with a lift.

I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something.