weird rattle from turbo area/loss of power once warmed up.
 

Ok so I noticed that the car has started to rattle near the turbo/downpipe/y pipe area.I cant quite pinpoint where exactly this rattling noise is coming from.Has anyone else noticed this problem.I also just recently changed the pre cat with a downpipe.if anyone has any ideas okease help me out.

Id say double check and make sure your turbos, downpipe and your y pipe bolts are all tight.. Rattling.. my guess would be your gasket.

you mean the downpipe gasket? or the lower intake manifold gasket?

loose turbo heat shield perhaps...

the heat shiled that used to cover the precat isnt there anymore.unless theres another heat shield somewhere.Does the y pipe have a gasket of its own as well?

turbos still retain the top shield with dp...
ypipe should have metal gaskets to the turbos as well as the air pipes..

thanx once again for the info.Ill get the car to the shop this weekend so I can look under and around the turbo area.Its weird.The noise only appeared once I changed out the precat with the downpipe.Thats when I also noticed a huge drop in power once the car warms up.Not right away though.When I first installed the downpipe it was a totally different car altoghether.Much more torque.Now after about 5 minutes of driving its slow as all hell off the line.it must be something that came loose.Ive also noticed that the turbo lag has increased and the car builds boost much more slowly.
Can anyone direct me to the location of the thermo sensor? ive also heard that this is also one of the culprits that affects initial throttle response.

alright.so me and a buddy of mine decided to work on the car today.We took off the y pipe and also the rear intake pipe on the second turbo.We tightened the downpipe as much as we could and also cleaned out the y pipe.I noticed that the o ring that connects the front half of the y pipe with the rear half was rather flat.I looked around and the only thing that seems to move would be the heat shield on top of the turbos.Anyways we reasembeled everything toghhether.I put some rtv on the y pipe c ring in order to seal better.
quick question though.Which gaskets come with the effiny y -pipe? do the metal ones that go to the turbos come with it?
The crappy part in all of this is that when we started the car it was smoking from the downpipe area.Which it wasnt doing before.Also the rattling is still present.
If anyone has any ideas I would surely appreciate the help

Has to be your downpipe isn't tightened and sealed completely. Did you use the stock gasket, and stock bolts or studs?

I reused the metal gasket and I used one of the stock studs.Other than that I used the 17 mm bolts that it came with.Would you suggest a new downpipe gasket?

anyone else have any clue as to what it could be? where else would exhaust be able to escape from? turbo manifold or lower intake manifold maybe?

Completely replace those gaskets.

But if you ask me, I bet it's a severely cracked exhaust manifold.

I was thinking the same thing clayne.I dont think its the stock downpipe gasket otherwise it would have leaked much earlier.Its very weird indeed.This rattling is probably the heat shield right above the turbos but I also remember when a friend of mine installed headers on his 2003 eclipse and it was rattling as well and it turned out to be an exhaust leak.I guess ill change out all the gaskets first and if it doesnt cure the problem then the only other thing it could be is the exhaust manifold or the turbos themselves.what are the odds that the turbos themselves could have cracked? also im thinking that theres a gasket between the turbos and the exhaust manifold.Am i right Clayne? Also whats the best way to locate an exhaust leak such as this? Jacking up the car and then going underneath it to see where its coming from is like stepping into hell.Way too damn hot.

if the downpipe was loose, it would cause noise, but not a loss of power. if anything, you'd be getting boost spikes.

Does the "rattling" increase frequency as you increase revs?

I've been fiddling with a similar issue, sort of.

Anyway, my thoughts: downpipe leaks are not that hard to spot, simply remove the turbo heat shields in the area and start it on a cold engine. I used one of those insect-repelling incense sticks ('bug punk'). From under the car, let the smoke trickle over the downpipe joint, and if you have a helper, have them rev it (after the engine's warm of course) to see if extra pressure forces the leak to appear. Bright light helps make the smoke visible. A new gasket isn't a bad idea, but expensive. Just make sure all along your head isn't directly below the hot stuff as you do this test - just get in enough to see clearly.

Smoking after messing with the DP is normal. Just keep an eye on it to make sure nothing really combustible got in/on there and starts a fire. Still makes me nervous when it happens, but I've never heard of a real fire starting this way.

Some people suggest spraying the joints with soapy water so a leak will appear as bubbles. Let me tell you, even 10 seconds with the engine running will boil off the water instantly. So don't bother with that.

Ressurection
 

OK.... i searched all over and found nothing. just spent 2 hours searching. didnt really find anything that helped so Im bringing this thread back to life.
I am having this problem too.
I have this rattling noise too..... and its HEEEEEEEEEEELLLAAAA loud!!!!
at first it started off as a light rattle but within a month or so it got so loud!! The rattling is as loud as my exhaust itself.. when I drive by you hear ratttling instead of my exhaust. Its fucking retarded.....
It doesnt rattle when I press on the gas though. When i press the throttle it diesn't rattle.
However it rattles all the time at idle and is especially loud when I am driving and let off the gas but the car is still in gear. (engine break) So when im in gear and let off the throttle it rattles like crazy.
Its coming from the downpipe/turbo area. I have my car up on jack stands as we speak right now. I took off the downpipe because i though it was the turbos. (oh, my primary turbo, the one that kicks in at 5k is also not boosting... ) so i thought it might be associated with the rattling noise but i am not sure. So i took off the downpipe and looked at the turbos. The turbos are perfect. No shaft play at all and the blades are in outstanding condition!
I turned on the engine while under the car and the rattling is coming fromthe turbos downpipe are. I have no idea what it is though. I dont have the downpipe heat shield and the other heat shields are all good, none of them are touching the exhaust..... so I have no idea what it is.... HELP PLEASE!! =D thanks

Turbo to exhaust manifold bolts. I once had a very loud rattle that turned out to be the pre-spool cover, it was loose. It also would not boost properly (due to the leak) until it was tightened up. Check the gaskets and be sure to use the correct Mazda bolts here; regular bolts will stretch due to the heat.

Are you running a highflow cat? Might take it off & turn it pipeside down & see if anything falls out of it. Had a Bonez that was plugged & when I took it off, honeycomb material poured out of it onto the ground after tilting it downwards. Had less than 20K miles on it too. No power on take off & zero boost were some problems it caused. Mine was so bad I blew the hose out coming from the air feed pipe off the airpump.

Start with this thread and see if it helps:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=169138

Mine rattled a lot once the car warmed up (I guess it's from the idle dropping, so the motor "shook" more) and it was the bottom heat shield on the turbos touching the subframe. I bent the tip of it just a little and voila. Done deal. Hope it helps.