$900 for Mazda Protege exhaust?

In my estimation, I would choke on that price...Now, I might have to end up paying it,but I doubt it.

What actually do you need? The entire system from head to buttocks?

NAPA sources some of your parts. Maybe not all.

Muffler companies like Midas can probably give you a quote to redo the whole schmutz for a lot less than that.

I would do a lot more shopping before I shelled out $900 to a stealership.

can't figure out how to use a phone directory (yellow pages) or phone searching website like switchboard.com?

I just got a price from a local shop for my Jetta, $650. Exhausts are expensive. I bought an aftermarket performance exhaust on Ebay for $200, and put it in myself. Don't try this unless you have a sawzall. You'll never get the old exhaust off.

I just got a price from a local shop for my Jetta, $650. Exhausts are expensive. I bought an aftermarket performance exhaust on Ebay for $200, and put it in myself. Don't try this unless you have a sawzall. You'll never get the old exhaust off.

Well I'm not sure just yet

But car has 105k on it and never had ANY exhaust work done

It makes a wired cricket like sound that I've been told are some internal baffles that have rotted away

have any idea what it might be?

a good muffler shop should be able to "tailor" any exhaust system to fit, and install it..

they have all the facilities needed to do such job.

my primary concern would be the type of materials used in the installation. like

stainless steel and aluminum in areas where an oem installation would use them.

if the catalytic converter is to be replaced, the shop would need to be certified for this type job.

you might buy the parts from a mazda dealer that would give you a 25% discount,

and then find a reliable muffler shop that would install for a reasonable fee, or get

an estimate from a reliable muffler shop, they can buy oem parts.

mho v=83e

if the car passes state inspections without a hitch - and only the muffler is shot, just replace the muffler with like kind.

mufflers that have a sound shell can be repaired by competent mechanics.

think about getting and oem muffler by some crook or hook fashion.

normally oem mufflers last a long time, I know chrysler products do. if it isn't

aluminized / stainless steel, and has been parked overnight on an unpaved area, they go to pot fast.

get an estimate from a local muffler shop, you might just have a loose connection somewhere, hopefully.

mho v=83e

'Internal baffles' signals the muffler, most likely. The muffler is only one part of the exhaust 'system'. If the other parts are good, there is no reason to replace them.

You may be able to find a selection of brands of aftermarket mufflers, some even in stainless steel, that can be adapted to your car. These mufflers may range from roughly the $30 level up to near a hundred bucks.

You can probably save yourself a ton of money by shopping around, and staying away from the dealership mentality.

You may want to be careful of 'performance' type applications as they may be noisier than what you are accustomed to.

Hey, I've had 480,000 miles on a car with the original exhaust. What damages exhaust systems is water.... if you run them up every day and get the system nice and hot, you'll have a lot fewer rust issues than if you just drive on weekends.

That's just the muffler. It might be entirely possible to just cut out the muffler and replace it without changing anything else. That's a much cheaper job.

Not without looking under the car and seeing what is rusty and what is clean. If it's rusty, replace it. If it's not, keep it.

--scott

Could be a rattling exhaust shield.

----------------- Alex

Yep.... this is what it "sounds" like.....

Makes a chirping sound at idle and low rpm. Sounds like crickets making a noise.

So it could just be the muffler only huh?

That's where the internal baffles are at?

Could be internal baffles - if that's the case, you better change it out PRONTO, as it could clog itself causing other issues.

I've had a similar noise, which turned out to be a vibrating heat shield just under the floorboard. I used asbestos sheeing to wedge it between the shield and cat to stop the vibration.

Cant tell

Catalytic converters have 'sort of' baffles, the ones with the honeycomb style, which you have to be careful of. If they shatter and and shifting around, they can clog the system and cause excessive backpressure and excessive engine heat, causing all kinds of havoc.

Is the sound coming from the muffler area or the catalytic area? Or can you tell for sure?