I have been following this forum for a while and have gotten a lot of good ideas for mods. I an currently looking for some opinions and possible trouble shooting techniques.

I have a 2003 TL-P with XS Power headers and a resonator delete. Once i put on the headers i have noticed a cold start rattle between about 1k and 3k with light to mid throttle. It sounds like a heat shield but i have removed all the heat shields on the car and it is still here. It sounds like its coming from the rear of the car (but its tough to tell from inside the car). Once i get on the gas and, I'm assuming, the exhaust heats up, the sound goes away. I did some searching and found a post about a similar issue and it was mentioned it could be a blown muffler but there was no follow up as to if that was actually the issue. Does this make sense? If so is there a way that i can test the mufflers to find out if one or both of them are bad?

 

Have someone start the car while you listen for it. It might be the headers.

 

Put the heat shields back on, they are there for a reason. Jack up the car, support it on jack stands and start the car cold or conditions that cause the rattle and get under the car and see if you can locate it.

 

What are those reasons?! Are they really important? When I got cut out my mid-muffler long ago, I noticed I had no heat shields. Maybe they were removed at some point from an accident repair?

Should I buy them again?