Exhaust pipe - Horse's mane?

Question

My sister recounted an interesting story to me last night. Apparently, on returning to her car from a shopping trip, she noticed a few strands of hair-like material sticking out of the exhaust pipe.

She decided to tug on the strands and was most surprised to pull out what she described as an entire horse's mane. The material was, she reckoned, silvery-grey in colour, too fine to be rope, and about a metre long overall.

Assuming nobody had shoved this stuff up the pipe when she was shopping, what could it be? My only theory is that it is the catalytic converter breaking up, but for some reason I always though these were made from a honeycomb structure that broke into tiny pieces?

Thanks for any light you can shed on this. Luke

Mrcheerful · Accepted Answer

this is just 'silencing material' it absorbs the shock of the exhaust pressure and reduces noise.  Unless it is ever so noisy (very unlikely) then just ignore it.

shazzbat · Answer

Ignore it if you like, it's a warning that the silencer is dying. Better to get it changed now than to wait till something worse happens.Steve

Simon Dean · Answer

You mean like noise? Or the silencer falling off somewhere?

Mike P · Answer

Such as? A bit of extra noise is all that is going to happen IME.

shazzbat · Answer

Either. The silencing material is coming out, this means that the baffle which was holding it in has rusted away enough to let it escape. The rest of the box cannot be far behind. Either it will get louder, or it will come loose at one end, allowing the tail pipe to flap about, amusing the following drivers. Falling off completely is unlikely, but not impossible. Either way I wouldn't want to risk an MOT on it.

Steve

Adrian · Answer

"Mike P" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I'm with Mike on this one. Shazz is almost certainly over-reacting when he says the silencer might go awol - that's easy to rule in or out by a quick look under the car.

shazzbat · Answer

All very well for you and I, but for the OP, or more to the point, his sister?

It's an uncommon failure mode, but a failure mode nonetheless. Exhausts are of notoriously cheap and cheerful manufacture and you can bet your life that the makers won't have put in an ounce more of this wadding than the minimum they could get away with. She's been fortunate in her first symptom being fairly benign. Cheap and stingy as I am for myself, I can't give the OP any advice other than to get it changed.

Steve

Abo · Answer

Yeah, but it's not 'OMFG my exhaust is gonna fall off, I must get it fixed NOW!', more of a 'hmm, exhaust is on it's way, I'll get it changed when it's convenient' thing

shazzbat · Answer

That's what I said.Steve

Mark W · Answer

Don't listen to the 'neigh' sayers telling you she will be 'saddled' with a big bill for a new exhaust.

Mrcheerful · Answer

no, stop horsing around and hoof it round to the cowboys at kwik fit, the mane point is that you want a stable exhaust system, perhaps it will spur you on to greater things or maybe you will just rein youself in?

Exhaust pipe - Horse's mane?

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