Piece that fell off car

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Anybody have any idea what this piece may be. I heard something clang on the driveway and looked down and this was under the car.

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2

Looks like an exhaust hanger. You might want to have your service shop give the car a look underneath. Your exhaust might be loose or have a hole in a place it should not have a hole.

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3

And if that rusted off, I’d want the whole bottom of the car, along with brake lines, suspension components, etc, inspected to see if other problems are just around the corner.

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4

That might be part of the sway bar that snapped off.

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Tester

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5

I thought sway bar, too. Is it too small in diameter to be even the rear sway (a.k.a. stabilizer) bar? I’d expect the front to be much thicker.

6

Are you sure it fell of of the car and was not laying on driveway when you pulled in?

7

To me it looks more like some part of the suspension system . Probably rear. Given its size, should be pretty easy for a shop to put car on lift and figure out where it came from. I frequently find stuff that fell off off cars laying in the gutters during my walk-abouts, and besides wheel weights and caliper bolts, suspension parts probably the next most common.

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8

That is an exhaust system hanger.

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9

The nail polish kinda says its time to take it to a muffler shop to have it looked at. I suspect it may be time to replace some components before they fall off.

10

Another vote for “exhaust hanger” and they can break off due to metal fatigue, even without there being excessive rust. I live in AZ, and an exhaust hanger broke off of my 2004 Corolla, which caused the muffler to sag down too low. There is no rust at all on this car.

I fixed it myself, using this exhaust hanger made by Nickson:

The portion with the bolt holes was too long, so I had to cut it down with a hacksaw, otherwise this was not a difficult repair. I drilled into the frame rail near where the old exhaust hanger had been welded on, and put a fine-threaded machine screw and locking washer.

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11

Good home-brew fix there @bcohen2010 :slight_smile:

12

Nail polish on fingers suggests a shop needs to take a look. If it were me I’d crawl under but my wife would take it to a shop.