What Are The Signs of Broken Car Exhaust?

 The exhaust system of your car is like the windpipe of your body, if there is a problem with the exhaust it can affect the engine's performance. If your car performance is slowly going down or is making some weird noises, there is a high chance that your exhaust system could be broken. You visit the nearest car repair Warrington Garage to get it fixed. 

Modern cars' exhaust system is more than a simple chimney that takes gases from the engine to the outside. It is an important component for cleaning up harmful emissions coming out of the engine to reduce pollution. 

The exhaust outside part of the car will always placed at the back of the car to ensure the fumes and gases are kept away from the car cabin. Placing exhaust behind the car also helps to keep noise down inside the car.

But, because of the exhaust system placement, it is quite vulnerable to damage. The exhaust is just a few centimetres away from the road surface, which means if your car jumps or moves a little fast on the potholes, it may easily damage the exhaust. 

It can be direct damage from crunching over a speed hump, or a pothole. It can also be damaged from corrosion from water and muck being splashed up from the road over several years.

Over time as your car starts to get old, the chances of failing something in the exhaust system keep increasing. If you notice any damages in your exhaust then visit a garage to fix this issue as soon as possible. In order to run a smooth car engine for better performance and fuel economy the exhaust system will also need to be in the best condition. 

What Are The Signs of Broken Exhaust?

We made a list of potential signs of broken exhaust, including what to look for and listen out:

Rattle or Vibration

If your car exhaust pipe has come loose and touched other components of your car. You may feel a vibration going through the car. This often goes with an obvious buzzing and rattling noise, as metallic bits move around and hit other metallic bits. 

Visible Discolouring or Damage

Most of the older cars have backend exhaust tips, which is not normally a sign of a problem as it can be caused by hot gases coming from the system over time. Modern cars shouldn't show this. But, so any visible discolouring at the exhaust tip or beside the main exhaust pipe could be a sign of a problem.

Many cars nowadays come with fake exhaust tips or additional tips to look more appealing. They are usually not connected to the rest of the exhaust system or stylised holes that aren’t even exhaust tips at all and they are just for visual appearance. So it can be difficult to see the actual exhaust tip of the pipe where gases are coming from the car.

Loud Engine Noise From The Front of The Car

If you hear a louder noise coming from the bonnet of your car it could mean a cracked manifold, a part where the gases coming out of the engine and stored in one pipe. It could be a worn gasket, it is a seal between different parts normally between the engine block and the manifold.

If you ever heard of a car engine without an exhaust system attached to it, it is much louder than you may think. The noise is like hundreds of explosions going on inside the engine at the same time. 

Loud Engine Noise Coming From The Rear of The Car

If you see the rear side of the car just before the exhaust tip, a box-shaped section is there it is called a silencer. This component is responsible for lowering the noise of the engine. 

It is placed right near the back of the underside of the car. It can easily lead to the silence benign damage and can result in a noisy car engine. 

Hissing Noise

If you notice a hissing noise coming from underneath the car it may be a sign of a leak somewhere, possibly through a crack in the pipe or in the exhaust manifold.

Finding a crack may be difficult to spot especially if you are looking at the car while it’s cold or the engine is not running. As the metallic exhaust system heats up, it starts expanding. This means that a crack may not appear until your car engine is warmed up. 

Muffled Burbling

This can happen if any component has broken off or loose, and is now blocking the exhaust system. This can lead to a dangerous situation as it can increase the gas pressure in the exhaust system and result in costly breakages. You need to pay a high price for car repair if you don’t fix this early because it can affect the engine performance as well. 

The exhaust system should be in good condition and if not, it will negatively affect your car's MOT Warrington because noise reading and emission levels are major parts of the MOT test. If your car did not perform an emission test it will definitely fail its MOT.