850 - rattly, diesel engine type sound when cold

My first guess would be an exhaust manifold leak.

Han, it's more likely to be an exhaust manifold gasket, which has about a 10-year life, than the exhaust itself. Get a shop to confirm this. If it is the gasket, the part costs next to nothing. You don't even have to be very mechanical to fix it. Just remove the nuts to release the exhaust manifold, remove the old gasket and any remnants (thorough clean), fit the new gasket and re-fix. You ought to be able to swing the manifold off the catalytic converter rather than removing both ends if you can find something to prop it.

The most likely problem to encounter is that you can't release all of the nuts (because of corrosion), in which case you'll have to re-fix everything you just took off and take it down to the shop anyway.

Don't be alarmed by the noise if it is the gasket, it's only what a motor really sounds like.

Cheers

Andrew

James Sweet wrote:

Thanks everyone, I think you might be spot on as the muffler itself is showing signs of rust.

Cheers,

Han.

I had put 278,000km on my 1993 854 (before someone smashed into *me*), all with the ORIGINAL exhaust, save for one of these manifold gaskets...... now

Kevin

I would check the exhaust manifold gaskets first, they usually leak worse when cold when they go bad.

If it's the 10 valve version, it's more likely to be a broken weld on the exhaust manifold where it meets the front pipe.