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A car’s exhaust system works like human intestines-
removing stinky waste in order for the body (yours or your car’s) to stay healthy.
The automobile’s intestines or in auto talk, the engine’s combustion, produces hot exhaust gases that are not only poisonous, but create pollution that has contributed to the disappearing protective ozone layer around the earth.
This push of waste from the engine also creates very loud vrooooming noises. I’m sure many of you have experienced a muffler falling off and the need to shout at the person sitting beside you because your sweet little car sounds like a motor head’s dream machine.
The exhaust system consists of a series of parts and pieces welded together.
First in line is the Exhaust Manifold. Attached to the engine, this set of cast iron pipes funnel all the exhaust ports
The Manchurian Candidate release into one pipe so you don’t have multiple exhaust pipes sticking out the back of your car. The gases gather here and are pushed by the continuing pressure of incoming gases into the Headpipe which connects the manifold to the very important Catalytic Converter.
or y-pipe,
The catalytic converter or “cat’s” main job is to clean up some of the harmful chemicals from the waste gases, so you don’t end up breathing them or having them enter the atmosphere. It is filled with treated ceramic honeycomb or beads that cause a chemical reaction turning the harmful gases into carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapors. The Catalytic converter is very expensive to replace, and a lot of big engines can have two or even three of them.
These changed gases next go through various pipes, and in some cars a resonator
to help dim the noise, through more pipes into the Muffler
. The muffler routes the sound waves through a series of chambers, baffle plates, or other mechanical designs that bounce sound waves off of each other and, eventually, cancel each other out, getting rid of the vroom, vroom the car would make without it.
The Tailpipe is the last stretch of piping that connects to the muffler and stops at the side or back of your vehicle. These pipes usually have bends to curve up and over the rear axle.
Most exhaust systems now have one or more sensors.
The sensors are a computer type gizmo which monitors the air/fuel mixture the engine produces. If the mixture is out of balance, your car may be using more fuel to do it’s job as well as emissions leaking into your exhaust. This sensor will sound the alert and turns on your Check Engine. If the sensor fails, you might feel your car surging or hesitating or you might not notice anything wrong except for that check engine light glowing on your dash. If you ignore the light and don’t replace the sensor, it could damage the catalytic converter, which I will remind you is a very expensive part to replace.
How Often Does An Exhaust Need To Be Replaced?
- The metals used today to make the exhaust parts last longer than they used to: typically it’s about five to seven years before any big pieces need to be replaced.
- BUT if you typically drive very short distances, especially during the winter the muffler and pipes never get hot enough to evaporate any collected water vapors. This short stop and go type of driving can cause the muffler to rust from the inside out. ????? ??? ??????????? ???????? ???????? ???? ???????????
- Also, mufflers that are mounted far from the catalytic converter or mounted behind the rear axle are at risk of having water vapors puddle inside the mufflers. The water combining with sulfur forms a highly corrosive acid that eats away at the metal.
- Where the various exhaust parts are welded together is called an exhaust gasket or flange. They tend to deteriorate way before any of the pipes. This is bad because the colorless and toxic exhaust gases will leak out and you will be it breathing in. Even a small amount of exhaust gases getting into your car can affect your judgment and perception. That headache you thought was caused by the long drive home may be poisonous gases trickling into the passenger compartment.
Lucky for you: We can sometimes replace the gasket or the flange and this is so much cheaper compared to having two pieces break apart while you are driving down the road resulting in damage not only to the exhaust but to a tire, axle, or other part under your car.
With potholes abounding on the roads, ask your auto technician to do you a big favor by inspecting your car’s exhaust system when you bring it into the shop for service or repair. You want them to tighten those annoying heat shields that continually get loose and rattle, and keep an eye our for any small exhaust leaks before they become a bigger, more expensive problem down the road.
*The best way to store tires in on their sides in a tire rack. But realistically, most folks are not going to invest in one. Most people will stack them. If you do this, then do not stack more than four high and never Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd rip put anything on the stack of tires.
I find that most winter wipers are so heavy that their contact with the windshield is compromised when cruising at highway speeds. If you have that problem there are plastic weights you can put on your winter blades to eliminate this problem. I just started stocking ‘Storm Guard Wiper Blades’ at my shop Auto Craftsmen because they do a great job with clearing snow and ice, and are not heavy.
