How long will the Muffler last?

[scott 4991]

My 1990 535i has 172K miles on it, no muffler change. The sound is a nice low frequency sound, but a bit loud. I'm wondering of the posters here have some idea how long our mufflers will last on these cars?

I've seen posts of $1200 for a new one - why so expensive? are they special?

Thanks

sc

[Alexlind123]

Its a little over $300 for a new OEM muffler for our cars. If you want stock sound, you can go with ANSA for quite a bit cheaper. Other options such as eissenmann(sp), B&B triflow and magnaflow are also available. Do a bit of searching and you should be able to find what you are looking for, even if you dont know what you are looking for yet :)

[winfred]

it's a crap shoot how long one will last, the worst one i ever saw was installed by me new on a 89 525 we sold was almost falling off the car two years later, eberspatcher mufflers kinda suck but you can kill a exhaust system fairly quick by not letting it warm up completely and burn off the condensation, moisture and the acids present in the exhaust will just about dissolve a muffler

[Jehu]

My original stock muffler is beginning to rattle inside and the flanges are cracking.The last shop i had it in for the clutch brought it to my attention but didn't recommend any work be done. He said it will just continue to get louder.At this point i don't even notice any thing from inside the car and outside it honestly sounded to me like it was just the heat shield flapping against the muffler but he said that was coming from inside.I'm not expecting to need one in the foreseeable future if it doesn't bother me, bother others or cost me performance or gas mileage.

[Gayle]

My 1990 535i has 172K miles on it, no muffler change. The sound is a nice low frequency sound, but a bit loud. I'm wondering of the posters here have some idea how long our mufflers will last on these cars?

I've seen posts of $1200 for a new one - why so expensive? are they special?

Thanks

sc

Don't blow a good thing by replacing it. Our former 525 had an old muffler with an awesome sound. It rumbled like a harley. I loved it. When I got the 535, I spent a boat load of money trying to replicate the sound. The new expensive sound is nice, but not as wonderful as the old muffler on the 525. Do a search on muffler and you will find people trying to find just the right throaty sound with B&B, Eisenmann, Remus. You have it for free.

[winfred]

some age better then others and decent sounding worn out mufflers are uncommon but it happens


Don't blow a good thing by replacing it. Our former 525 had an old muffler with an awesome sound. It rumbled like a harley. I loved it. When I got the 535, I spent a boat load of money trying to replicate the sound. The new expensive sound is nice, but not as wonderful as the old muffler on the 525. Do a search on muffler and you will find people trying to find just the right throaty sound with B&B, Eisenmann, Remus. You have it for free.

[bigtisas]

My 92 525i's muffler is getting loud as well. I couldn't find any holes outside, so it must be rusting inside. it's not very noticible at highway speed. I am thinking about getting a new ansa muffler but it's pretty low on my to-be-fixed list.

[scott 4991]

Thanks for the comments, I'll leave it alone for sure and just monitor it. I do like the sound.

sc

[ericbendler]

same here. I got a rear muffler that looks like Sharron Stone took and icepick to it. Sounds great though. Hang in there with that muffler and I'm sure it will keep on sounding great.

[zmuff]

Windfred is right about it being a crapshoot. I work barely 10 minutes from my house so the exhaust on my car really hasn't had a chance to burn off any moisture. This is the rotted out 4 year old Eberspaecher muffler that I pulled off my car this past summer. I just had to know what was in there.

http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/zmuff/original/new%20008%20resize.jpg
http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/zmuff/original/new%20009%20resize.jpg

[winfred]

id ride a bike or motorcycle if i was that close to work on dry days to save the car, id be changing the oil on a 3 month basis (maybe change the filter every other change) unless you get out often to get the oil temp up and burn off the acids/moisture


Windfred is right about it being a crapshoot. I work barely 10 minutes from my house so the exhaust on my car really hasn't had a chance to burn off any moisture. This is the rotted out 4 year old Eberspaecher muffler that I pulled off my car this past summer. I just had to know what was in

[bigtisas]

Good pic zmuff. Always wonder what it looks inside. Muffler apparently is a simple part. Wonder why the manufacturer didn't use stainless steel.

[scott 4991]

Great pictures.. thanks

sc

[winfred]

not just stainless but the proper grade of stainless like 304, cheaper 409 can still corrode


Good pic zmuff. Always wonder what it looks inside. Muffler apparently is a simple part. Wonder why the manufacturer didn't use stainless steel.