Blown exhaust?

[skmattwell]

Was driving down the motorway the other day and all of a sudden the car starts sounding very different, almost like someone's ripped the catalytic converter out. It sounded great, but obviously not right. Then a few miles down the road, back to normal.

Did this several times on the journey, what might this be? My initial thought is a hole in the exhaust, but surely it wouldn't be intermittent and just stay noisy?

Any help appreciated!

 

[caius]

There's a flange/joint between the headers and the exhaust, could be the bolt(s) have rusted away so it flexes slightly and sounds louder, then moves again and closes the gap. Doesn't take much of a hole for it to sound SUPER loud.

(Had the bolts rust away on the 2.5i and it opened up a slight gap there. Had to drive it back through town trying to idle it in fifth at 25 mph to keep the noise down. Running the M54 without anything after the headers is quite the experience. )

 

[skmattwell]

There's a flange/joint between the headers and the exhaust, could be the bolt(s) have rusted away so it flexes slightly and sounds louder, then moves again and closes the gap. Doesn't take much of a hole for it to sound SUPER loud.

(Had the bolts rust away on the 2.5i and it opened up a slight gap there. Had to drive it back through town trying to idle it in fifth at 25 mph to keep the noise down. Running the M54 without anything after the headers is quite the experience. )

Cheers mate, will check that out!