Heard a rattle under my truck and went to take a look. Found the flange where the pipe leads into the muffler to be rusted/rotted thru and ready to break off. My truck is an 05 with 69,300 mi. and this seems a bit premature to me, of course the dealer said it's not covered even with my maximum care extended plan. Is it best to get an after market muffler, stock or straight pipe the thing? Dealer wants over $600 for the job.

Sticky

 

That is pretty odd for it to bu shot so quickly, but if you don't mind it being a bit louder, grab a muffler elimintaion kit from genos, should run you like $70 plus shipping.

my .02 anyway.

 

I just straight piped my 04 with almost the same mileage and my muffler didn't have anything more then surface rust, seems weird if you wash the underside of your truck frequently.

 

Did the straight pipe hurt or help performance? Is it legal to eliminate the muffler?

Thanks,

Sticky

 

I just straight piped my 07 Mega 5.9 and like the sound. It is not loud at all, just a little deeper at idle and under load. There really is no performance gain that I can see, but it is a lot cheaper than a new muffler from the dealer. Easy do it youself project if you are good with a sawzall or grinding wheel too...

Rob

 

My 06 has 60k and the muffler is rotted out. I am thinking stacks are in the near future. Jim

 

It will drop EGT's a bit, but really no change in performance. It is illegal everywere I believe, but unless your state has yearly inspections I wouldn't worry about it.

 

you could just but a donaldson 51" that should take care of it.. and improve the sound of your truck.

 

It's been stated on here a few times that your turbo actually counts as the legal definition of a muffler in many states.

 

$600!!!! does that come w/ a jar of vasoline? the previous posters have given good advise, i personally like that sound of the straight pipe

 

Straight pipe it, sounds a whole lot better, and have noticed a little better fuel economy. take off the silencer ring on the turbo, and then youll really have a cool sounding rig.

 

Donaldson 40" fits in the stock position and is not too loud until you open the truck up. $75 for the muffler, $40 to install.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. I decided to just order the stock setup cause I still have 30k mi. left on my engine and extended warranty and I don't want to hear any crap if I should have a problem with the engine. I know they have to prove the parts caused the failure but I don't want to deal with that if needed. For now, until the parts come in, I am running an open pipe with a turn down tip after the cat, can this hurt anything ? BTW, sounds real good like this but I still want it quieter for the long trips.

Thanks,

Sticky

 

so what exactly are they replacing? entire exhaust? or muffer & remainder of exhaust back?

 

I paid less than 600 for a turbo-back 5" stainless aftermarket exhaust and installed it in a little over an hour by myself. Bend over for the dealer as usual...