Jay123

G'day guys, I was messing around with my exhaust system and managed to snap one of the bolts holding the cat-back onto the headers. (The broken half of the bolt is now stuck inside the headers) As a result there is exhaust gas leaking from in between and is making a nasty sound due to it only being screwed in on one side. any tips on fixing this / expected difficulty is doing so? Can supply pictures if necessary. Cheers!

I think it is the stock cat welded on. Is there any way to test for blockages or do I have to completely remove it?

Hi there, Sorry for leaving this thread suddenly, just wanted to give an update on the situation. I unbolted the exhaust from the headers a while back and.. Although the car was obnoxiously loud, I took it for a drive and it was as powerful as ever, lift engaged properly and felt pretty quick, even quicker than when I had the other exhaust on. I think it must be plugged somewhere between the cat through to the muffler or simply just too small/restrictive to flow effectively. Do you have any suggestions on how I can fix this or can I only solve it by getting a new exhaust made specifically for my car?

Update: I completed a full oil change using 10w30 oil and still no difference engaging lift. I think it must come down to the exhaust being very restrictive, should I revert back to the old setup? Sucks because I was enjoying the peace and quiet! 😁

I think so too.. I don't notice any smoke in the mirrors although it might be worth noting when the engine is warming up there is frequent pops and burbles (not really noticeable now due to quiet muffler) up until operating temp. sadly I don't know what viscosity is currently inside the engine as I usually take it to the mechanic for things like oil changes.

Update.. I pulled apart the lift screen and it all seems to be in order and no signs of blockage, however, I am concerned at the oil colouration (was only changed 5000km ago). I guess the next step might be to take it back to the exhaust shop and see what they think? Let me know what you think

Hi Hiro, Thanks for the reply. I had done a bit of research since then and checked the lift bolts for any sign of breakage. They both appear to be fully intact, so the next step might be the OCV/lift filters. Hi Squalled, It is currently sitting on 272, xxx kms. I will try to check the OCV and lift filters once I have a bit of time tomorrow and from my knowledge, the service history is up to date. the exhaust is a 2 1/4 inch and remains the same width as before, just with a longer resonator and different muffler. I was previously running a CAI and went from stock as well but that didn't seem to affect performance in any way in terms of the transition to lift. I will try and record and upload some videos of acceleration to see if that might be helpful in diagnosing.

Hi everyone, I am having a problem with my 03 Corolla Sportivo. The car previously has a cat-back custom exhaust that would engage lift strongly and prominently. I did not like how loud it was so I took it back (around a year later) to replace the resonator and install a quieter muffler. Since then I have noticed that lift does not engage anywhere nearly as significantly as before (almost no noticeable power increase) and sounds like it is struggling in the higher rev range/ not operating smoothly. I notice at 6k rpm the engine will cut off very briefly and then continue onward to redline, same sort of sound and feel between on/off lift. I am wondering if this might actually be an issue or it is just all in my head going from loud to quiet.