[Awesome1]

I'm looking for a picture or part number for the exhaust pipe bracket (angle iron type) which is located forward right below the transmission area I think it was. I had the car on the rack at a Midas shop for an oil change and I was only able to take a quick look under the car to check on the location of this angle iron bracket. I asked the mechanic who was doing the oil change to look for anything that could cause a rattling sound. That's how he noted that the angle iron bracket was cracked in two locations. The two exhaust pipes that come off the exhaust manifolds are held together in this area with this angle iron bracket. The angle iron bracker is about 1/8" thick. This angle iron bracket is cracked in two locations near the exhaust pipes. One crack on the driver side and the other on the passenger side. Not sure what this bracket is referred to. I did find some info concerning a flex decoupler joint, not sure if this referres to this angle iron bracket. If anyone has and info, or a picture, diagram or part number for this bracket, I would certainly appreciate it if you could post it here. If you are not able to post it here, please email me at: [email protected] Thank you for your support, Tommy.

 

[bronsonllh]

Check out picture #6 on this link about changing a 3.2 single exhaust to a dual. Click on the pic to enlarge it.

http://www.cadillacfaq.com/faq/answers/vexh-base/index.html

 

[Awesome1]

Thanks for sharing your pictures with me. It gave me the energy to jack up the car and remove the bracket in question. The picture below is what I found. This bracket is bolted to the transmission bell housing, at the bottom two bolt holes. It appears that it is designed to minimize the driver and passenger side catalytic converters from vibration. The broken bolt hole tabs in the green circles, bolts to the bottom two transmission/bellhousing holes. You can see where they broke off from the bracket. This appears to be a design flaw to me. The bolts in the red circles attach to the driver and passenger side catalytic converters. And the rectangular holes in the blue circles support the 02 sensor wire connectors. Has any of you reading this experienced this same problem? I'm wondering if this bracket is necessary at all. If it broke off from vibration, what's to stop it from happening again. Seems to me there should be springs in the design which would take up all of the vibration. Any thoughts about this? Let me know. Thank you, Tommy.

 

[Awesome1]

Ok, I finally got the part number for that bracket. This is the OEM part number: 15143600. Hope this helps those with the same problems. Good luck, Tommy.

 

[Awesome1]

I decided to fabricate my own bracket. I drilled out the spot welds that held the 02 sensor wire connector support bracket to the original catalytic converter bracket. I then welded it on to the catalytic converter bracket that I fabricated shown in the picture below. Looks pretty good. Hope it will last. I still think there is a design flaw here. So, for those of you who own a 2003 Cadillac CTS with a 3.2L V-6 engine and you hear rattling under your car, this may be where it is coming from. Good luck, Tommy.