Hello all,

Just wanted to update on my last post a few weeks ago. Finally got the balls to go to the shop and find out for sure what was causing the irritating knocking noise under my '01 E430.

For those who may not have read the original post my problem was an knocking noise that originally seemed to be from the engine compartment but I later narrowed down to the mid-section of my car, and it was only when the car was warm and only when RPM's were between about 950 and 1100.

Well after searching post after post here on the site it was clear it was either motor mounts or exhaust. Well in my case its both! I will first be getting the catalytic converters replaced. At the moment the right side converter is totally gone, and the left may still be ok. But more will be revealed of course once they are actually removed.The good thing is it appears the debris is staying in the chambers of the cats and not blowing into the mufflers. So I want to get the repairs done before that happens!

I am NOT going to go get rapped by the dealer and pay 2 grand for exhaust repairs on an eight year old car with over 100k miles on it! I found a great shop nearby that will cut out the old cats and replace them for just over 800 bucks! Then I will tackle the motor mounts. I have seen some post from guys who say it was a fairly easy DIY job. So I am hoping for my exact model there are no strange custom tools needed etc and I can indeed do it on my own and save some money.

So again I want to thank those who had input on my first post. I really like this site and I am sure I will be using it over and over again.