muffler advice

My muffler on my 99 civic and my wife's muffler on her 98 civic have both
developed holes in the last two weeks. They are both in the same spot, on
the pipe welded to the inside of the muffler (not the tailpipe, the other
side) I called my honda dealer and he said it would be about $220 for each
repair, labor & Materials. I am debating whether or not to get some sort of
Psuedo-performance exhaust. I don't want to spend too much money. i
thought i might go to a muffler shop and have them form a pipe from the cat
back and slap on a flowmaster muffler or something of the like. Am I
foolish in doing this? Should I just get the honda replacement? I plan on
getting a OE fix on the Wife's car.

I had heard that honda has a lifetime warranty on their mufflers, but when I
called teh dealer he said you have to buy the first one from them and that
one will have a lifetime warranty. It would make sense to me that the one
that came on the car would be the same as the replacement, so it to should
be warrantied for life.

What should I do?

Greg

 

this is just my opinion:
i would go for the muffler shop for my car (leave the wife's for the
factory/dealer option). i really like the flowmaster muffler, but i don't
like the cost! :~)>
look at dynomax for your muffler. they are supposed to have better
performance than the flowmaster. i don't know if this is true or not. i
had a pair of hooker aerochamber mufflers on my 440 dart that were real
nice. no packing to blowout, etc.
--
bob z.


"people with less brain power than you are doing more difficult things
everyday"©

 

my advice? don't get a performance exhaust. It won't do anything worthwhile
for performance, and will probably just be louder. I like my exhaust note
nice and quiet. And because of that, I recommend a Honda OEM muffler, they
are quite good IMHO. It is odd that the stock one doesn't have a lifetime
warranty like the OEM replacement, but, oh well. If you feel adventurous,
replace it yourself, it's pretty easy if you have the tools, and you'll save
about $50.

 

The Honda replacement will probably last a lot longer unless you go with
a pricey aftermarket. Make sure the engine is properly tuned too. High
NOx will eat through the exhaust.

 

the cheapest way is go to a junk yard to find a likely replacement but you
will still need a new gasket, bolts, springs, etc. which represent about $30
or $40 of the dealer price...I wouldn't use cheap after market (Midas) and
for quality a/m look in "Sport Compact Car" mag or search the web. You'll
find the good stuff is not cheap and the Honda stuff looks pretty fairly
priced! I'm pretty surprised at your rust thru problem-I own two Civics ('96
and '99)- and neither show any rust.

 

If you do not mind the initial cost, do go ahead and get Honda
mufflers installed by the dealer. Yes, the replacements will have
lifetime warranty, and the next time you need a muffler change it will
not cost you a cent. (Keep the Receipts from the dealership in a safe
place for your next muffler change). I have a 91 Civic on its second
replacement muffler, which was installed free by the dealer (free
labor, free parts). So, in the long run it becomes a reasonable
expense (IMHO!). From my experience these replacement mufflers last
about 4 years (50,000 miles) on average. (have had Civics since
1983......)

 

Whatever you do, don't turn your car into a fartmobile. My advice: get the
Honda muffler - it fits perfectly with quality joints which will never give
trouble. BTW the B-pipe will go in ~10-15K miles from now.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Well, I got a new muffler. I ended up needing a new B pipe too. It was
rusted through all along the seem.
Anyway, i got caught up in the moment when I saw the shiny performance
muffler in the show room and turned my car into a "fart-mobile" as george
called it. Now that it is done I am pretty happy with it. It is pretty
loud, but it sounds nice and low.
Needless to say, the wife was less than ecstatic when i brought it home.
Thankfully I have a very understanding wife. She understands that I am
still a foolish Kid (at 26).
I ended up getting a Ravin' muffler from Midas, It is their new performance
line they carry. It appears to be pretty high quality and it gives a nice
low full sound, it doesn't sound whinny like most of them do.
thank you for all the advice. I must admit I did have some cognitive
dissonance while I was driving home, but now that i have lived with it for a
couple of days I am pretty happy with it.

Greg

 

You can fix it or get it fixed. That happened on my 93 and 94 Del Sols. I
just fixed the one tonite as a matter of fact. Take the muffler completely
off and form a flange that will fit around the tailpipe. Weld the flange to
the muffler and attach the muffler with the new flange on it to the
tailpipe. Clamp it down. A little bit of muffler cement on the pipe
doesn't hurt.

 

When my 1994 Civic DX Coupe developed a hole in the same place (the
top of the pipe where it curves down into the muffler), I went to the
local Discount Muffler. They said that it would be $154 for stock
replacement from the cat back, or $201 with a Flowmaster and 2 1/4"
piping from the cat back. I went with the Flowmaster. I couldn't be
happier, I LOVE the sound, it's just loud enough for me without being
overpowering.

Nate