Car Problems: Muffler advice needed

suspectbanana

Member
Aug 2, 2001
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I was driving my car recently and noticed an increase in noticable noise in the car when I revved my engine. I thought something had given out in the engine (it's a 95 Honda Civic LX with 796xx miles on it) but I went out with a friend and she said it was muffler trouble. She swore up and down that it was because an old car her mom had also had some muffler trouble. I stopped the car at one point and started it again and noticed an increase of noise coming from the rear. I was going to take the car in for a major tune up anyway at 80,000 miles and I'm wondering how serious that muffler problem is and what it could possibly be. I don't want to drop a few hundred on service here, even though I figure that is going to happen anyway. Should I avoid running my car until I can go get it fixed?

 

DuffmanOhYeah

Golden Member
May 21, 2001
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can you be a little more specific about the noise you hear? It is plausible that your exhaust system is just shaking itself loose from its mounts and you are hearing transferred vibration. But this could also be WAYYY off. Give a little more descrip if you could.
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
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The only thing that you wouldn't want to do is run your car if the catalytic converter was going bad. I know people that have blown the internal materials through their muffler which basically destroyed everything.
 

Scouzer

Lifer
Jun 3, 2001
10,358
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<< The only thing that you wouldn't want to do is run your car if the catalytic converter was going bad. I know people that have blown the internal materials through their muffler which basically destroyed everything. >>



Um..my car has no catalytic converter...hmmm...
 

suspectbanana

Member
Aug 2, 2001
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The noise just sounds like vibration. No grating, no choking, no screeching. It sounds like those obnoxious cars with those huge mufflers that you see everywhere in the Bay Area...except I have the stock muffler. Just a loud, vibrational, engine revving noise that emanates from the rear of the car. I just found a muffler shop right near where I plan on being at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow so I was just going to drop in and ask them to take a look at it but I figure it's in my best interest to go in there knowing a thing or two about mufflers.
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
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muffler trouble is easy to spot - look under the car: See the muffler? its the big boxy kinda thing a little ways up the pipe from the exhaust tip. Is it rusty? Are there holes in it? if so - you need a new muffler. It should cost $50-75.
 

etech

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,597
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Mufflers rust out over time. Crawl under your car and see if yours has a hole in it. If it does, get a new muffler.

I'm not sure what the effect of driving with a large leak would be. Cars need some back pressure from the muffler to work correctly. I'll leave it to someone with more experiance to say whether it will damage anything.

If there are no holes, then check around the connections for leaks, and check the hangers to insure that they are secure and solid. I still can't believe the number of people I have seen driving around with their muffler hanging down.

 

bbqweed

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2000
2,908
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It's not too bad...

mufflers eventually go bad. but then again, it's only 6 years old.

is your car lowered? If so, then it may not be your muffler, but instead the pipe leading to the "inflow" end of the muffler. It might be cracked, hence leaking exhaust. Do you smell exhaust fumes when car is at a stop (idle)?

If not, take it to a local muffler shop. On a civic, it should cost no more than 140.00 installed for a performance muffler....

--Ty
 

DDad

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,668
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I ran a muffler shop for better than 20 years- heres some thoughts-

Hondas (and other foreign car) are notorious for having the pipes rust out in the area behind the catalytic converter- it can be very hard to find because they surround the actual pipe with heat shields. The Heatshield mounting points tend to be the worse offenders.
Mufflers on the Hondas usually are built fairly stout- good thing because they tend to be more expensive than most other makes. Ususally, when you get a hole rusted in one it's pretty easy to find- not unusual to see one come into the shop with a hole the size of a quarter in it -"It just started getting loud just the other day"
 

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
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check to see if the hangers holding the muffler i falling apart. Grab your muffler and shake it abit. does it have alot of give? My muffler doesnt move more than a couple of centimeters.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,044
556
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Hondas, to my knowledge, are equipped with stainless steel exhuasts. I know my 91 Accord has (had) one. I would doubt if something is already rusted out. My car's muffler was starting to split at the seams so I decided to install a cat-back. The midpipe was still fine. In fact I kept it in case I need to install the stock system again. Anyway, I would guess its a hanger that broke. You should check your owner's manual as well. Friend of mine has a 90 Integra and it had a lifetime warranty on the muffler.
 

MajesticMoose

Diamond Member
Nov 14, 2000
3,030
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I recently noticed my exhaust rattling. There's a heat sheild on part of what i think is just plain pipe that has cracked. I might fix it when i stop being lazy.

m00se