The con job

I managed to fit in getting the muffler repaired with 7 dentist appts on Tues. (had orignally planned on getting it done Wed or Thurs)

I now have a QUIET van!!! It's so nice to be able to have someone talk to me without having to scream. I was giddy with excitement about driving it home Tuesday night. (I'm easy...what can I say?)

I feel like I conned myself into a huge bill though. The muffler man (MM) handed me an estimate of $97. I looked a bit surprised and this is the conversation that ensued.

Me....You're only replacing the muffler? There's no holes in the line?

MM...I didn't see any holes. But your engine is racing so that'll need to be fixed. BTW...you're muffler looks like it blew apart!

Me...Yeah I know...it backfired and blew out when I decelerated. It's still backfiring. Won't the muffler explode again?

MM....Yeah probably.

Me....Are you SURE there's no hole in the top of the line? I thought it was backfiring because there was air getting sucked in there.

MM....You mean up near the engine?

Me...yeah

MM...I didn't see any...but I'll go look again.

Five minutes later he was in the office looking up parts in the book.
Ten mintues later I was looking at a $560 bill. Seems he did find quite a few holes up where the manifold connects to the catalytic converter. So the whole system needed to be replaced. I'm sure he'd have found them eventually since replacing the muffler alone wouldn't have completely quieted the beast. I'm just glad I kinda knew what was going on so I wasn't surprised by a bill for 5x as much money as the original estimate! (I'd figured it'd cost between $400 and 600)

OH and the engine racing is gone too...go figure.