Muffler diagnosis: Checklist
Ignoring your car’s exhaust system is actually easy, given that it seldom draws professional attention unless you experience a glitch. A sudden rise in noise, unpleasant odors, a dip in fuel efficiency, and a loss of acceleration or power are some tell-tell signs of a malfunctioning muffler. As a core component of the vehicle’s exhaust mechanism, this accessory largely mitigates engine noises, while directing the toxic emissions outside the vehicle. Eventually, the air gets cleaned up before the tailpipe emits the same.
If yourmuffler system isn’t in the best of its health, you would experience headaches or dizziness, due to exposure to carbon monoxide. This gas, when emitted untreated from your exhaust, can prove detrimental to your health. The moment you sense a possible glitch with your exhaust mechanic, visit your technician to get the issue fixed.
Diagnosing your muffler: How to go about it?
- You hear loud noises
Keeping your ears open to unusual noises in your vehicle is the simplest process of detecting a problem in the muffler. In case this component is damaged or broken, your car would be noisier than normal. Given that several chambers in the exhaust system, nullifies the noise, a faulty system would make the issue clear.
Once this accessory gets compromised, it might result in leakages in the exhaust system. Under such conditions, the exhaust pipe would make thumping, rattling, or clunking noises. Remember, driving with a defective muffler may attract legal action in some states. Make sure to reach out to a reputed car mechanic in your city for cost-effective muffler replacement services.
- Examining your muffler
Scrutinizing the physical condition of your muffler can also help you detect potential issues. You need to lift the car using a jack and examine this component thoroughly. In case you notice rust or holes in the muffler, make sure to get the component replaced. However, it’s quite normal to have a little patch of rust on the surface, so long that it doesn’t mess up with the metal. In case you notice significant amounts of rust on the external surface of the muffler, they would tell you the story of the internal areas.
Besides, if you notice your muffler dripping, the damage would be conspicuous. This happens due to continual exposure to moisture when the exhaust system gets cooled. It condenses in the pipes, and the liquid tends to erode the pipes and muffler seams, leading to complications.
- Monitoring car temperature
Although car engines happen to be strong fixtures, a malfunctioning exhaust mechanism may lead to misfiring or overheating. Therefore, monitoring the temperature of your car can help you detect possible glitches with your muffler. When this component undergoes damage, it leads to system blockages. As a result, you would experience unusually high temperatures in the engine. Besides, loss of engine power indicates possible issues in the exhaust system. Under these conditions, make sure to reach out to a certified car mechanic and get it replaced.
- You experience unpleasant odors
A muffler failure would make itself evident through a peculiar smell. When you find unpleasant smells in your car, it means that the fumes are not leaving your vehicle in the way they should. Particularly, you would observe the air smelling of gasoline. A damaged or congested exhaust mechanism takes a toll on the fuel sensors. This, eventually affect the fuel that your engine receives from the fuel injectors. When these injectors send excessive amounts of gasoline, you can identify the problem by its smell.
Hire certified mechanics to fix your exhaust system
Being the owner, you wouldn’t love a malfunctioning exhaust system to mess up with your driving experience. As soon as you sense a drop in fuel efficiency, unpleasant noise, or smell, reach out to your car mechanic. Replacing the muffler wouldn’t cost you much. However, ignoring the situation may aggravate the performance of your car, which might involve expensive repairs in the long run.