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Exhaust Systems Explained-What does your Car Exhaust System (Muffler) DO ?

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 Exhaust Systems Explained

To most of our customers, the exhaust system is just something that hangs underneath their car, and when it breaks, it makes a loud noise and costs a lot of money to replace. Well, the second part is true; they do now cost a lot of money to replace, especially if you include the catalytic converter in the price.

The first thing that your exhaust does is transfer the gases produced by your engine from the front of the car (the engine) to the rear of the car, expelling the gases into the atmosphere. Before the days of emission testing, the gases were a major polluter, but thanks to new car technology, cars now emit far fewer toxic gases than they used to.

The exhaust system usually comprises of three or four different parts depending on the model and engine size of the car.

They start at the front of the car with the catalytic converter, which is connected via a normal piece of pipe to one or two silencer boxes and sometimes a piece of chrome pipe to add a finishing touch as the exhaust system leaves the underneath of your car. The catalytic converter reduces the amount of CO2 gases that exit the engine by filtering them through microporous ceramic honeycomb structures, and the emissions are monitored by lambda sensors that are screwed into the converter and send messages to the on-board computer that is standard in all modern cars.

The rest of the exhaust is pretty simple in comparison to the cat. The exhaust system boxes are filled with a fibreglass-type material that quiets the sound made by the engine. In the USA, these are called “mufflers” because, simply put, they muffle or quieten the sound as it enters the box. Exhaust systems are probably one of the few things that differ in quality. A cheap exhaust system will probably only last for about 18 months, but a much better system, say one that is made by a company called “Bosal” will last up to four times, because of the superior quality of the metals used in the making of the parts.

What can go wrong with your exhaust system? 

 

well, starting at the front. So a big problem is the gasket that bolts your exhaust system to the engine. This gasket can become worn and deteriorate. because of the high temperature emitted by the engine. When this happens, the noise will be deafening! However, they are usually simple to repair. The next problem is just common old rust.

The complete car Exhaust system is attacked by rust. Hence, from the day that the car hits the road Also to add to this is salt. Especially in the UK, where we use a lot of it during the winter. Eventually, the rust will attack the most vulnerable parts of the exhaust, and a piece will fall off. A stainless steel exhaust system is the only cure for this problem. However, they cost two or three times the price of mild steel systems in the first place. So they are not always a viable alternative. For a free, no-obligation quote on a catalytic converter or exhaust system, check out our web site if you have catalytic converter problems.

Exhaust Systems Explained; A modern diesel exhaust system come s with a diesel particulate filter DPF 

catalytic converter

Catalytic Converter Care-Regular Car Servicing can help look after your Cat

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CATALYTIC CONVERTER CARE; Why does car servicing affect your Cat?

This is an interesting point; I suppose that regular car maintenance has an effect on all your car parts in the end. Your Catalytic Converter care, (CAT) is a crucial part of your vehicle. Therefore, is fitted with your engine and the rest of the exhaust system. Thus, some are attached to the manifold, onto the engine, these are known as manifold cats, and some are fitted at the end of a short front pipe on the rest of the exhaust system.

Bigger models of cars sometimes require two cats, cars such as BMWs and MERCs usually have two cats fitted, (very expensive to replace).

Your cat’s primary job is to clean the engine particles that the engine omits. Catalytic converters are made out of ceramic. Thus, with added precious metals (another reason why Catalytic Converter care is critical). Naturally to filter the dirty particles from your engine. Thus reducing the pollutants from entering the atmosphere, this helps us to clean the environment and is part of the UK MOT test.

Catalytic Converter Care

Your cat will only work correctly if the engine operates with the correct ratio of air to fuel. Naturally, this was your car servicing comes in. aged.

Catalytic Converter Care

So, since writing this post then the catalytic converter has become even more important. Especially with the tightening of exhaust emissions regulations coming from European governments. Of course this important filtering of the gases system is on every new petrol and diesel car produced these days. So, diesel cars and vans call them the “particulate filters“.

However they work very similar to each other, filtering out poisonous gases from the vehicles engine before emitting the gas into the atmosphere. I t may be interesting to know that the catalysts are made up using some precious metals.

Precious metals used in catalytic converter

So, one of the main reasons that many catalytic converters are stolen  from vehicle. Thus, is because many of them contain some rare metals. Given these points, the main metals are rhodium, palladium and platinum.