TRD Pro Muffler Gasket Keeps Going Bad

My TRD exhaust muffler gasket exhibits an exhaust leak after just a couple of small creek crossings. Basically a rattle at low RPM after engine warms. This is the second time I’ve had to replace. Anyone else have this issue? Haven’t seen this in any other vehicles.

 

Disconnected spring bolts, wiped the residue off the gasket and reattached... no issues. Not sure this is a long term fix. We will see.

 

^Is this the flange downstream of the Y-pipe? I suppose you could cut the flanges off, slip a length of repair pipe over the joint, and secure with band clamps.

 

I have an issue where my 22 was out of warranty by time and not mileage and they approved a one-time replacement of the donut gasket in the exhaust. Not sure where it is but Toyota Service was going to attempt to charge me $500 for it. I had reported the odd metallic cricket noise for over a year and they finally found it. It was a leak in a bad exhaust gasket. My 4runner is garage kept and only has 26k miles on it. Luckily even the Service Manager said this should not have gone out. We will see how it holds up.

The other funny thing is they found one of the rear breaks did not have a spring installed from the factory. They originally thought that was causing the noise. They actually attempted to say they were not going to cover that issue either but decided it was best to cover both since I was only out of warranty by a couple months. These little nitpicky things are why I purchased a 4runner instead of Bronco. I know its not much but sheesh.

 

Interesting - I just recently developed a rattle/squeak on my 2018 (had the TRD Pro muffler installed in 2019) that would happen mostly when I turned on the ac. I checked idler pulleys, belts, fan, no loose heat shields, finally gave up and had tech look at it thinking it may be the ac compressor. He went through same process and didn't find anything until shaking the exhaust. It wasn't loose, all the hanger points were good and didn't throw any codes but the connection at the muffler was the culprit. The gasket was still good, so undid the bolts, applied some grease retightened to spec and all good (for now). Was happening only at slightly higher rpms, like when ac kicks on, in drive but with foot on brake etc...

 

Really strange. I’ve never had another vehicle that I’ve had to actively manage its muffler gasket

Will try an aftermarket gasket the next time this happens.

 

They said mine just developed a small enough hole that it caused a loud whistle noise. It sounded more like a metal screw vibrating on a metal plate to me. It would only occur with the vehicle in gear and the break applied. They described it as being under load but not too much. It would drive us crazy sitting in drive-throughs where the noise would echo off the brick walls. It is thankfully gone but I cannot believe they wanted $500 now that I see what you all are talking about. Highway robbery.

 

This was my sound, amplified x50 when at a drive thru which ultimately led me to take it in.

https://youtube.com/shorts/eZEqYeqqC6c?si=S7UM7Z7X0tZK_C7r

 

That is the exact same sound ours was making. I would start and stop though. I would start when I had the trans in gear but breaks and then it would stop when letting off the brake. It sounded like I had and old piece of you know what driving around.