Muffler Repair

[Sir Edward V]

I am being charged about $430 to get a new muffler as well as the two pipes leading to it in my car. That includes about $90 of labor and a %15 discount... Does the price sound legit? the list price of the muffler was $219 and the pipes were pretty pricey as well

[Mon Rominee]

What kinda car? Didja call any auto part retailers to compare prices? Can you do this job yourself?

[Sir Edward V]

well it is a little late cause I already had it done... lol but I didn't compare prices... I probably should have

its a '98 ford mustang

I don't think I could do it myself, I am pretty sure it involved welding.

dammit... I think I overpaid...

http://www.napaonline.com/masterpage...d=6&SubCatId=1

the most expensive muffler was $120, I paid $219 should have done this this morning!

[Sir Edward V]

I think I'll look under my car when I am off of work and try to find a model number or something and see how much it should have cost me... dammit...

I already paid, so I don't think there is anything else I can do...

[Mon Rominee]

Yeah, for that price it should be stainless. Was it from the cat back?

[Sir Edward V]

Originally Posted by Mon Rominee

Yeah, for that price it should be stainless. Was it from the cat back?

idk, I looked under when it was done and everything was shiney chrome looking until a rusted blackish hole that a new pipe went into. It could be the cat, I don't know... I do have a repair manual on hand though, maybe I'll compare my memory to the diagrams

I looked through and didnt see anything, but I know I paid for two pipes for each end of the muffler

as long as the stuff I bought is superior quality I can accept the price I paid, but if I paid $400 for crappy parts, then I will be pissed

[RED5]

Originally Posted by Sir Edward V

idk, I looked under when it was done and everything was shiney chrome looking until a rusted blackish hole that a new pipe went into. It could be the cat, I don't know... I do have a repair manual on hand though, maybe I'll compare my memory to the diagrams

Two things you can Well three after learning about the other two, Shop before you buy, is one. Just like doctors, you're entitled to get a second opinion. Two, learn to DIY. This goes hand in hand with shopping the parts out. Be aware though that this track also includes amassing the skills it took a mechanic years to aquire. I work for a car dealer and an informed customer is rare, but welcome (especially in the parts dept). The third path is to become best friends with the local guy/shop that can work on cars. Jumping from repair shop to repair shop, because you feel they cheated you isn't the way to go,and won't serve you well at all, especially when you've used them all and are forced to double back, they eat you alive. Unless you want to pick up auto repair as a fall back gig? You should establish yourself with a reputable Tech/mech. So? Shop,Learn,Network. The end. sorry if I got long winded, but this is a favorite topic between me and mine. They're always coming to me AFTER they got banged on the head, anything I can do to prevent that is free.

[buzzbass]

Originally Posted by Sir Edward V

well it is a little late cause I already had it done... lol but I didn't compare prices... I probably should have

its a '98 ford mustang

I don't think I could do it myself, I am pretty sure it involved welding.

dammit... I think I overpaid...

http://www.napaonline.com/masterpage...d=6&SubCatId=1

the most expensive muffler was $120, I paid $219 should have done this this morning!

You probably could have scored an aftermarket high performance exhaust for that price. You didn't get horribly ripped, but you didn't get a deal either.

[Ericman197]

You're a young guy, you shouldn't be spending loads of money on a muffler. Go with a glasspack for ~$20. I have dual glasspacks on my Duster. I love the sound and they're a lot cheaper than Flowmasters...

[Sir Edward V]

Originally Posted by Ericman197

You're a young guy, you shouldn't be spending loads of money on a muffler. Go with a glasspack for ~$20. I have dual glasspacks on my Duster. I love the sound and they're a lot cheaper than Flowmasters...

pfft don't tell me what quality equipment to put on my car, I might be young, but I want my car quiet and I want it to have good quality parts on it so my car will last me another 20 years. This is the first of many things I will be doing to my car to get it in tip top shape, this one just sprang out at me to do first because it was actually broke and making a lot of noise

I guess my youth brought me the mistake of assuming they weren't screwing me over... well I will find out if they did later...

either way I will probably keep going here as it is right next to where I am working, I just need to befriend him so he gives me deals, haha

even though I paid a lot, they did a good job, the only thing I can hear now is my engine, which is exactly what I want.

well, actually one of my back tires or axel maybe is making a squeeking/light groaning noise when I move slowly... but I'm going to be looking into that shortly... tonight maybe

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by Sir Edward V

pfft don't tell me what quality equipment to put on my car.......

Clearly, you need no guidance on this subject.

By any chance does this car have dual exhaust? Translated to your technicial jargon, are there two pipe thingies sticking out of the back of your car?

[Ericman197]

Originally Posted by Sir Edward V

pfft don't tell me what quality equipment to put on my car, I might be young, but I want my car quiet and I want it to have good quality parts on it so my car will last me another 20 years. This is the first of many things I will be doing to my car to get it in tip top shape, this one just sprang out at me to do first because it was actually broke and making a lot of noise

I just figured since you drive a chick muscle car you wouldn't mind buying something that might add a little noise as well as some power. I use glasspacks myself because they're kickin' rad and I'd rather not spend the extra cash for Flowmasters.

[Sir Edward V]

Front-end note: I don't like how I came off in that last post, my apologies. I assumed the $20 muffler was crappy based on price, I do want to learn what is good and why, etc.

Originally Posted by guy n. cognito

Clearly, you need no guidance on this subject.

By any chance does this car have dual exhaust? Translated to your technicial jargon, are there two pipe thingies sticking out of the back of your car?

No dual exaust. I don't think my car supports it as-is I think it would take some modifications.

Originally Posted by Ericman197

I just figured since you drive a chick muscle car you wouldn't mind buying something that might add a little noise as well as some power. I use glasspacks myself because they're kickin' rad and I'd rather not spend the extra cash for Flowmasters.

I'm all for extra power, but I feel noise that comes from a muffler means it is a crappy muffler. If there is noise coming from my car, I want it to be purely from the engine. Or the speakers

If you feel you know more than me, then educate me, I want to learn.

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by Sir Edward V

Front-end note: I don't like how I came off in that last post, my apologies. I assumed the $20 muffler was crappy based on price, I do want to learn what is good and why, etc.



No dual exaust. I don't think my car supports it as-is I think it would take some modifications.



I'm all for extra power, but I feel noise that comes from a muffler means it is a crappy muffler. If there is noise coming from my car, I want it to be purely from the engine. Or the speakers

If you feel you know more than me, then educate me, I want to learn.

The noise you hear from the mufflers does, indeed, originate in the engine.

[Sir Edward V]

Originally Posted by guy n. cognito

The noise you hear from the mufflers does, indeed, originate in the engine.

I guess... I mean it DOES... but still... I think you know what I mean

[Ericman197]

Originally Posted by Sir Edward V

I'm all for extra power, but I feel noise that comes from a muffler means it is a crappy muffler. If there is noise coming from my car, I want it to be purely from the engine. Or the speakers

If you feel you know more than me, then educate me, I want to learn.

No problem brosef, we're just teasing you. Anyway, I sort of get what you're saying. You can take a V8 with a lumpy cam + headers, and even with a restrictive muffler it's going to be pretty loud. Whereas a stock V6 without a muffler will be loud, but not very.

Still, the noise IS in fact coming from the exhaust explosions.

The reason glasspacks are so dirt cheap is because they're a totally different construction from regular mufflers. I mentioned them because they're cheap, good performance, and you can buy them in different sizes/types to get more or less sound dampening. The way I see it, most young guys (myself included) don't care much about exhaust noise.

Whether the glasspack (or any other muffler) will sound good depends mostly on your engine. Most rice rockets just can't get the same sound as an American V8 (because they're not V8s). Go on YouTube and you'll hear some awesome muscle cars with glasspacks, as well as some pretty awful sounding economy cars (which would probably sound bad with any 'loud' muffler).

[Sir Edward V]

I don't really want other people to hear my car that much, but I want to hear it myself when I press down the pedal, which is what I am getting. My car sounds exactly like it did before these muffler problems. Maybe they gave me a Ford direct muffler...

while my car is a 'muscle car' I know its not sweet enough to want people to hear it all the time. If it was set up like that they and I would see me as a poser. thats how I feel.

I want to do what I can to give my car more power while keeping it quiet/stock looking

[Sir Edward V]

pretty sure this is the muffler I paid $220 for...

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/de...QQWK21354.html

I am going to go complain to him tomorrow.

I paid $32 for the exhaust pipe, then $70 for the tail pipe

[Sir Edward V]

I'm mad now, he also offered me something that he said was to clean out my air intake system, but I opened it up today, and it is spotless in there... I have a repair manual and it says not to clean it too... I don't trust this guy now! He also said my serpentine belt needed to be replaced, but according to what the manual says, my belt is fine! there are only minor cracks in it, and no tracks are missing or anything...

[Ericman197]

Originally Posted by Sir Edward V

I'm mad now, he also offered me something that he said was to clean out my air intake system, but I opened it up today, and it is spotless in there... I have a repair manual and it says not to clean it too... I don't trust this guy now! He also said my serpentine belt needed to be replaced, but according to what the manual says, my belt is fine! there are only minor cracks in it, and no tracks are missing or anything...

It's possible you need a new serp belt, especially if you say there are minor cracks. I certainly can't tell without seeing it though.

As for the intake, he probably wants to use SeaFoam or something similar. I have no idea if SeaFoam really works or not but I do it anyway. Only difference is I pay $7 for a bottle and I do it myself, whereas a garage will charge $whatever. I don't know what part of the intake you looked at, but in theory SeaFoam is supposed to clean the entire engine: throttle bodies, intake manifold, cylinders, heads, crankshaft, oil galleys, etc. You put some through the air intake, some in the gas tank and some in the oil. It isn't entirely necessary though since the gas and oil you buy has detergents in it anyway.