I know that this is a ridiculous question, but bear with me.
I noticed the car got way louder about 4 hours into a 6-hour trip the other day. Since then, we've driven it probably an additional 4 hours. Looking at the car yesterday, it appears that the muffler has become completely detached.
My husband wants to just pull it off and get it repaired over the weekend. The problem is, there's Thanksgiving between then and now. Thanksgiving will be about a 3 hour drive, round-trip.
If I were my husband -- who is the one who drives -- I would be pushing to take the train (even though it takes longer and we'd have to have people take us to and from the station and having to abide by the schedule is a pain in the ass) because then he could drink. But he seems to be pushing for driving.
So at any rate, do you think it would be safe to drive?
(Also, if you know how much it would cost to get this fixed, I'm all ears. It is a 2000 or 2001 Honda Accord. The car is worth exactly $0 (it was totaled years ago) and we don't need to have a car so it isn't worth spending much to maintain it.)
The only thing being harmed by no muffler is your ears. I had a hole in my Sentra's muffler and it cost just under 300 to fix. I have no idea what a new one costs. You can prob get one from a pic n pull scrap yard and save a ton of $$. You can also buy used ones online.
FYI from your description I don't think you need a new muffler
You don't need to replace it to avoid being stranded between home and Thanksgiving dinner, but I would need it replaced (or to take the train instead) to avoid arriving at TG hating life and totally irritated. I don't deal well with sustained loud noise.
Post by LoveTrains on Nov 25, 2014 16:12:21 GMT -5
So I had a problem in college where my car was making loud muffler noises, and then part of it came detached and was dragging on the ground behind me. That is definitely not good.
Is it bad for the environment to not have a muffler, or just loud?
Post by delawarejen on Nov 25, 2014 16:46:44 GMT -5
I had a situation where the pipe leading up to the muffler broke off. So I had to tie the pipe to my car with a rope around my car and through the back seat so it wasn't dragging on the ground, drive home, and then drive it 15 miles to the shop the next day. It was really, really loud. I mean, you could do it, but your ears will be ringing.
So I had a problem in college where my car was making loud muffler noises, and then part of it came detached and was dragging on the ground behind me. That is definitely not good.
Is it bad for the environment to not have a muffler, or just loud?
I would take the train.
Just loud. The cat converter is what cleans up the air to make it pass emissions testing.
There is NO way I would drive 3 hours with an extremely loud noise coming from my car. Do you have another car? If not, I would rent one until it were fixed...$30-35/day for a rental is worth my sanity.
There is NO way I would drive 3 hours with an extremely loud noise coming from my car. Do you have another car? If not, I would rent one until it were fixed...$30-35/day for a rental is worth my sanity.
But that's just me.
It isn't extremely loud -- just louder than normal. Like, when the noise kicked in, I didn't have to adjust the volume on the radio or anything.
No, we don't have another car and ha! at being able to rent a car for $30-$35 in New York City on any day, let alone a holiday (if we could do that, we wouldn't own a car, period). Kayak is actually coming up with no cars available in New York City for tomorrow. So train is the only alternative.
In high school a friend had a dragging muffler and hit a bump and it punctured his gas tank (everything was fine, but the end of the beater of a car). So if not fixing, take it off.
My brother tried renting a car to visit from Brooklyn this weekend. $100 a day.
It's fine but ditto pp who said to take it off rather than letting it drag along.
My sister got pulled over in a very bad neighborhood on the south side of Chicago because her muffler was dragging so badly the officer claimed it was damaging the road. We had to go pick her up and H had to saw it off and throw it in the trunk.
Thanks, everyone. Looks like we'll take the risk of driving!
I'm glad we can, because I talked to my parents last night to ask them if they could pick us up at the train station near where we're having Thanksgiving and they claim that, because they are driving to Virginia after dinner and will have luggage and Christmas presents (!) with them, and are also bringing pies to Thanksgiving, there will be no room in their SUV (!) for us to squeeze in for a 5-mile drive. ^o) (huh)
Thanks, everyone. Looks like we'll take the risk of driving!
I'm glad we can, because I talked to my parents last night to ask them if they could pick us up at the train station near where we're having Thanksgiving and they claim that, because they are driving to Virginia after dinner and will have luggage and Christmas presents (!) with them, and are also bringing pies to Thanksgiving, there will be no room in their SUV (!) for us to squeeze in for a 5-mile drive. (huh)
I would chalk this up to parents getting weird as they get old. Mine do the same type of thing constantly.
Like tomorrow, they will probably play words with friends by passing their iPad back and forth. Instead of, you know, visiting or playing a game or something with their adult children who are there to visit.