Exhaust: Loose clamp or otherwise?

[BoxNasty]

986Forum,
After searching the forum, I'm led to believe I may have a problem no one else has had. Let me entertain you with my predicament:

Last week I took my car out for some spirited driving at higher RPMs than normal, but nothing crazy. After turning the 99 Boxster off at one point and turning it back on 1 hour later, it sounded as if the muffler had been removed and was rediculously loud. I immediately looked under the car and couldn't find anything visibly amiss from that vantage point, but confirmed the exhaust was leaking out before the muffler only on the driver's side. The check engine light never lit up and I took off, determined to get it checked out later. After the car "warmed" up after about a minute of driving, it's like the muffler reconnected itself! The car performed exactly as normal and sounded stock.

I've been out doing field training for a week and hope to get this problem fixed ASAP. I put the Box on a lift today and saw one of the "clamps" connecting the midpipes (or whatever they're called) to the muffler had a bit of discoloration but didn't seem loose. The engine was warm, though, and perhaps the metal had expanded. That's my theory, at least.

Any ideas what else I should look for? There aren't any Porsche dealers within 2 hours of Camp Lejeune and I really would rather fix it myself, anyway. Thanks!

Your friendly neighborhood Marine.

[blinkwatt]

I would double check how tight the clamps on the 'u' pipe are. If it happens again,smoke test it,if you can't find a leak take it to a shop.

[Boxtaboy]

If you see discoloration at the u-pipe that connects the cat to the muffler, that probably means you have a leak in that area, and most likely, it is a clamp issue. Either retighten the clamp or get new clamps and retighten them, and your problem should go away.

The reason that the sound only appears when the car is warmed up is because the metal expands. I had the same problem with one of my clamps at the u-pipe that caused a rattle at idle, but only after the car warmed up. It turned out to be a bad clamp.