Exhaust issues/questions?

[Guest jclay]

Hi. For those of you that have been following my posts, i have an ongoing problem, which i'm now thinking is exhaust related. Previously, i thought it was an O2 sensor issue, but now i'm not so sure. I will note upfront that i am currently unable to pull codes, due to my CEL being burned out. I do plan to get that fixed, but can't at this time. personal attempts to fix it myself have ended with the dash taken apart, and me unable to remove the instrument cluster... It's a 94 legacy GT Wagon.

 

Anyway, here are my observations and the symptoms i'm experiencing. I apologize, but i haven't been able to get underneath the car to take a look yet, plan to do so this weekend.

 

1) very obviously shot rear muffler, i noticed yestarday that the outer shell has pulled away from the normal position, with huge gaps (no brainer, need a new muffler)

 

2) clanking, clattering from beneath the car, i cannot specify an area at this time, but it seems to be from beneath the engine or firewall area.

 

3) possible exhaust smell from under the car, when exiting the car after stopping.

 

4) extreme loss of power.

 

5) Extreme loss of fuel economy. (8 MPG: egads)

 

6) very rough Idle and ride

 

My question is this; obviously i'm losing compression, do these symptoms sound like strictly exhaust failure, or could there be something deeper?

 

My next question is this: what kind of cost am i looking at to replace all or part of the exhaust? i did the drop pipes a few years ago, and the cat. so assuming they are still good, and i have to replace everything from there back, can anyone give me an estimate for parts alone?

 

Thanks in advance for all your help, i apologize for the post without a thorough inspection, but was looking for a direction to go in.

 

Thanks, Jared (NOT FROM SUBWAY!!)

[Guest jclay]

bump

[Adnan]

Hi,

 

Have you measured the compression? I think that will tell you a lot. It may be that the worn exhaust caused enough reduction in back-pressure that you have burned an exhaust valve. The comp. test will at least put that to bed.

 

Seems unlikely that the exhaust system alone could result in a power drop and severe MPG drop. Something else is going on, either mixture being too rich or as you said, a large drop in compression ratio caused by damaged valves.

 

Regards,

Adnan