Aftermarket Muffler 2 part question.......

[Fordiesel69]

I do not work on my own exhaust. I had a shop install new aftermarket mufflers on my 2013 Ford Taurus Police. At 187K the dealer installed new manifold / cats, and did a powertrain control firmware update which would slow repeat cat failures. The was done for free under an customer satisfaction recall.

Here are my questions:
1.) The new cheap junk mufflers are half the physical size of the oem, thus they sound terrible. Will this damage the cats? Will this restrict flow?

2.) This is a winter beater in good shape, is there any paint I can put on them to slow rust? Shop says they will last only 2 years.

 

[dogememe]

I do not work on my own exhaust. I had a shop install new aftermarket mufflers on my 2013 Ford Taurus Police. At 187K the dealer installed new manifold / cats, and did a powertrain control firmware update which would slow repeat cat failures. The was done for free under an customer satisfaction recall.

Here are my questions:
1.) The new cheap junk mufflers are half the physical size of the oem, thus they sound terrible. Will this damage the cats? Will this restrict flow?

2.) This is a winter beater in good shape, is there any paint I can put on them to slow rust? Shop says they will last only 2 years.

Well, when the cheap junk ones that sound terrible die in 2 years, you have the opportunity to put quality/OEM ones back on, so what is the problem?

 

[Fordiesel69]

The car is worth $3000 maybe. It has over 200k on it and i keep up with maint. Rust cannot be stopped in north western PA. Even with gallons of woolwax and fluid film. But it will slow the rust. A ford OE set of mufflers are $1500 locally. They were $600 in 2021. I needed some kind of legal mufflers to pass inspection so I willingly went with these and it gets the job done.

I have used aftermarket walker mufflers in the past on my diesel, old dodge van, and other plow trucks and they seem to be made intentionally to rot out. Almost like the engineers go to great lengths to source garbage pot metal and then coat them in curing salts to speed the rot from the inside out.

 

[thastinger]

Magnaflow makes a stainless body muffler that sounds nice. I have one on my truck that is dual 3" in/out but I don't have salt issues...wouldn't matter if I did as the res of the exhaust isn't SS.

 

[D60]

Do the stainless offerings hold up? Too expensive for your taste?

Are there other applications that might work? For trucks I often look for substitutes that can be had inexpensively, but there's way less room to play with under a modern car.

No, mufflers are after cats so I would not expect them to impact cats at all.

 

[D60]

This brief thread has a little bit of helpful info. Do you know exactly what was installed?
https://www.taurusclub.com/threads/replacement-mufflers.356353/

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Nothing after the cat will damage it.

Well, there is a Ford Performance exhaust available for it
(It's probably made by Borla)

However, it's expensive, and other aftermarket 304 catbacks aren't any cheaper

You might be able to get a 304 exhaust fabricated at a muffler shop

Check the muffler to see if there is a hole at the bottom. Some mufflers come with a hole at the bottom to drain the water, as mufflers rust from the inside out. If there is no hole, you can drill one. The hole doesn't have to be too big. Even a few mm or 1/8 is enough. Drill it on the side of the muffler body at the bottom.

 

[DuckRyder]

Dynomax seems to make 409 mufflers that aren't crazy expensive and walker makes SS mufflers. If shop didn't hack up your pipes, probably did most muffler shops are hacks....

 

[JTK]

Even if they have a small weep hole, I drill it larger. Gives me another 2.5 months lifespan in the rust belt.

Walker exhaust parts or similar are such poor quality it's ridiculous. Problem is, they're often all that is available unless you want to spend 3-4x the cost.

 

[eljefino]

I'd find a better muffler shop, something in the 'hood where they have cool project cars parked out front that belong to the mechanics. They'll have some ideas.

Your issue now is you've paid for this job, so you'd be paying for another job to undo this job. Muffler mass/ size does improve sound as could resonators, if you have a couple of feet of straight pipe after the cat, that won't interfere with the driveshaft. Kind of a big wish.

NAPA/ Walker used to have a lifetime muffler, did that stop for your car? I've cashed in on it for a Saturn, took 6 or 7 years to rust out.

 

[JTK]

NAPA/ Walker used to have a lifetime muffler, did that stop for your car? I've cashed in on it for a Saturn, took 6 or 7 years to rust out.

They still do. The work needs to have been done at a walker approved shop and it's the same old thing. Only covers a replacement muffler. Not the rotted pipes, hardware and labor associated with those.

 

[Dave9]

Hold on while I get in my time machine to go back to before you had the work done...

Never mind, I looked on Rock Auto and there are 8 gazillion mufflers listed for the two engines and several pipe diameters and lengths. This means that the muffler shop also had options and put on something you don't like. Wouldn't they discuss it with you? You could try going back and expressing dissatisfaction with what they put on. I'd definitely go with anything stainless rather than aluminized.

 

[benjy]

aftermarket 304 STAINLESS mufflers will NEVER rust!!! but $$$ + if no fitments cheaper 400 grade STAINLESS corrodes BUT usually guaranteed to NOT rust thru