4k Exhaust Renewal

[Mark Eissler <tequila@interlog.com>]

Gee, you'd think if it was going to go, it would go sometime during the 
trip. But nooooo. After driving 400km at an average 100km/hr over the 
weekend, my Audi 4k's muffler sprung a hole the size of Mexico while I 
was sleeping. Noticed this yesterday morning when all of a sudden the 
engine sounded quite different on startup.

I knew the muffler was gonna let go. I was just hoping it would last a 
little bit longer until I could get that cash together for a sport 
exhaust. Oh well...

So I've got a new muffler/tailpipe combination. Last muffler/tailpipe was 
two pieces. This is one. I had a choice, but I wanted a new tailpipe as 
the formerly chromed piece had turned absolutely cruddy during the 
winter. $95 CAD for the combo. The Ansa will probably fall apart in a 
couple of years....

Here's the question: the resonator looks pretty good in that there isn't 
any rust on it. But the pipe from the resonator to the muffler (they 
connect at a flange and that darn bracket is proving to be a little 
scarce) is pretty rusty. No holes in it. Resonator would be another $85 
CAD. But I don't want to replace it. It would involve cutting the exhaust 
pipe where it connects from just after the cat. as this installation 
seems to have one pipe going into a flared other pipe--expansion and time 
will have fused the two together by now and the bracket is just there for 
show. So is it really stupid not to replace the resonator at the same 
time?

My last mistake was replacing the timing belt without changing the water 
pump. Sure, after everything was bolted together again, the water pump 
took a hike. Just picked up another pump when I got the muffler. But the 
pump will have to wait for now. I hope. ;-}

So what's the deal with the resonator. Replace now, or wait until it goes 
(my preference)?



Mark Eissler          | UNIX, DOS, oh and MacOS too.
tequila@interlog.com  | Why wouldn't a developer use 
New URL Pending       | a Macintosh?