4-year-old muffler rust common?

[rga]

Hi all. I have a 2009 volkswagen city golf that I took in for maintenance yesterday. I reported a squeaking coming from the underbody and I was told that the center muffler had rusted out and needed to replaced. I asked if the actual muffler needed replacement or just a clamp that was securing it to the body, and I was told that replacing the clamp was just bandagin the situation.

Is it common for 4-year-old mufflers to rust out? My car is four years old with 91,000km.

I have a feeling I won't be buying another Volkswagen.

 

[LTC8K6]

4 years might be a long time, depending on where you live.

Do they salt the roads a lot?

 

[rga]

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The last couple of winters I don't remember being too bad. I think the salt trucks were out four or five times.

 

[LTC8K6]

You would think a rusted out muffler would be loud.

 

[rga]

You would think a rusted out muffler would be loud.

That's what I thought. It wasn't loud at all. It was just squeaking, as if a hinge was loose and shaking as it went over a bump. Do you think I can ask to see the muffler they took out when I pick up the car today?

 

[LTC8K6]

You can definitely ask.

My guess is they have poked it with a metal tool to test it and the metal was weak.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Mufflers rust out faster in areas where you have higher humidity. If cars are parked for long periods of time outside, water can settle in the muffler and eventually cause the metal to rust.

We replaced the muffler on a Civic we had in 2008 (8 years old)....when we wer selling it recently, we had 2 people point out that the 5 year old muffler was about to need a replacement again. It's been parked mostly for 2-3 years as it was our backup car.

 

[DaTT]

I had no idea mufflers still rusted out. I thought everything was stainless nowadays. I have had my Bassani exhaust on my car since 2006 and zero signs of rust.

 

[AMCRambler]

I had no idea mufflers still rusted out. I thought everything was stainless nowadays. I have had my Bassani exhaust on my car since 2006 and zero signs of rust.

Nope. Exhausts are aluminized, not stainless. Stainless will still rust too if you let it sit with water on it. It will hold up a lot longer than regular exhaust though.

 

[rga]

I asked to see the part, and basically the muffler itself was fine. However, there is a clamp that is welded to the muffler that was rusting off. I remember about 7-8 months ago I was told that such clamp was coming loose. At the time I allowed them to basically use one a metal hoseclamp (which cost $60 ) as a temporary fix. The welded clamp rusted more, and the bandage hoseclamp no longer was securing the two pieces together. This is what caused the squeaking. In order to replace that one rusted clamp that is supposed to be welded to the muffler, it had to be cut, replaced and welded back together, because that clamp does not come seperate - it only comes attached to the center muffler, so the whole thing needed replacement.

Basically, I could've saved myself $450 if I could have dealt with the squeaking. Everything is fine now. but I'm out $450.

 

[mcvane]

Funny, I had the exhaust of my 2003 Cavalier replaced with a 'lifetime warranty' in November 2011. It rusted out in January 2014 and just got it replaced. It's funny how the quality now is garbage. Not included in the lifetime warranty was the clamps, straps, brackets and labour which cost me $140. Driving 60,000km in that 2 year span shouldn't have caused a 'good' walker muffler to rust out like that but I'm in Toronto myself and the shop tech told me "city driving can do that." Nice sales pitch.

My old 1999 Cavalier had a replaced muffler in 2005 and it was fine until I had to trade the car in in 2011...at 275,000km

Bottom line is - you get what you pay for.

 

[halik]

Hi all. I have a 2009 volkswagen city golf that I took in for maintenance yesterday. I reported a squeaking coming from the underbody and I was told that the center muffler had rusted out and needed to replaced. I asked if the actual muffler needed replacement or just a clamp that was securing it to the body, and I was told that replacing the clamp was just bandagin the situation.

Is it common for 4-year-old mufflers to rust out? My car is four years old with 91,000km.

I have a feeling I won't be buying another Volkswagen.

There should be no f'in way that muffler is rusted through. Case point, my 911 has mufflers behind the rear wheels and things like gravel/salt get flung in them. After 11 years of this, the seams barely rusted enough to crack open

 

[WoodButcher]

City driving , no. Short hops, yes.
When my father retired and moved to Fla. he bought a new to him car that had a brand new exhaust from an old pal. Two years later his buddy brought the car back to the shop for a replacement muffler. (it was a lifetime guarantee)
My dad put less than 5,000 miles on that car in the 2 year timeframe more than half of that being a trip to CT to visit me.
Fla., no salt other than in the ocean. They said his trips out every morning were the cause, condensation would form in the muffler and dad's 1/2 mile round trips were not enough to heat the exhaust system enough to evaporate and dry.

 

[Doppel]

It shouldn't, that isn't right. Hell, my last mazda didn't rust out anything that fast, other than the body work of course.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Wow all these worthless assumptions/posts....

OP

Step 1
Go get some Jack stands ($10-20 bucks at Autozone or Harbor Freight). Ramps might work too.

Step 2
Use the widow maker and lift the car up onto Jack stands (Set the car correctly< looks this up if you are a newb).

Step 3
Get under the car and check the damn muffler yourself

Welcome to the begging of doing shit yourself.....if you have the willingness (in this particular case, VERY little willingness) to do little research and learn you will save THOUSANDS over lifetime.

OR

just bend over backwards your whole life and let people take you for a ride.

Your choice.

Think about it, clearly your knowledge of vehicles is very limited yet you are smart enough to know that shit doesn't add up.

Truth is, unless you learn shit and do stuff yourself, you are vulnerable and open yourself up to be taken advantage of.