Home Muffler Repair
Driving up a hill one day I heard the sound that no one wants to hear, the scraping of my car muffler against the pavement. This is a big problem, not just because it can damage your car, but because without it being fully attached you can have this horrible rattling come from your car all day long. If this ever happens to you don’t panic, there is an inexpensive temporary fix as well as a do it yourself fix that will have your muffler attached in no time.
The quick fix
Your car muffler is held into place underneath your car by small metal brackets that sometimes break. These breaks can happen for any number of reasons, but the main reason for this is rust. If you’re in a pinch and need a quick fix buy yourself some wire hangers. It may sound strange, but wire hangers can act as a temporary fix until you can get a full replacement and they can even work for you in the long term as well. Take each wire hanger and twist it apart, being sure to straighten each one out as much as possible. Wrap each wire hanger around the muffler and feed the two ends around the body of your car where the brackets used to be. Put as many in each place as possible to ensure a good hold, then take an extra wire hanger for each section and wrap it around the tops of the excess wire from the wire hangers at each section. This will ensure less movement from the muffler and increase the duration of the fix, but by no means is this fix permanent.
The long-term fix
Following the steps in the short term fix, you will now need a welder and some protective eye wear as well as some welding rods. Find a few small pieces of metal that can act as your brackets for the muffler. Take each piece and slowly weld it to the muffler and the bracket assembly, being sure to create a good strong hold with plenty of welding material. Once the welds have cooled, test the weld by pulling as hard as you can on the muffler. If it does not come lose from this, then you have made a permanent weld. Leave each wire hanger on your muffler to help reduce further damage and shock and help to stabilize it. Use anti-rust spray on the muffler and on the new brackets to ensure that rust does not create a similar problem down the road. If you have a newer model car that does not have room to weld, use the wire hangers as a temporary fix and then go to your local mechanic to have the muffler replaced. A great way to save money at a mechanic is to go to the junk yard and look for a muffler to replace your old one. The mechanic will drop the charge of a new muffler and attach the muffler you found to your car.