Are you waking the Richmond neighborhood where you live every time you start your car? What was once nice and quiet has grown increasingly loud as you find yourself progressively turning up the radio. The problem is that exhaust systems deteriorate. You may have a bad muffler. They rust and corrode. There’s not much you can do about it other than replacing them, or parts of them, when they get too loud.

Actually, the exhaust system is designed to do more than quiet the engine. It’s also designed to safely carry exhaust fumes beyond the passenger compartment of your vehicle. Over the course of the last several decades, it’s been increasingly designed to filter harmful elements before they can escape into the atmosphere.

If your exhaust is making more and more noise, if you have a bad muffler on your Richmond car, it is quite likely it’s not doing these other jobs as well either.

The exhaust system is made up of several parts: the exhaust manifolds, exhaust pipes, mufflers and catalytic converters. The exhaust manifolds are made of iron that is attached to the engine. Generally, they last the life of the car. The other parts of the exhaust system, however, are less durable. They’re essentially made of heavy gauge galvanized sheet metal, and a few other materials.

The elements coming off the road, particularly moisture in the form of rain, snow and ice that we see in Richmond, work on those galvanized parts. The galvanized coating retards the process but, in the end, the elements will triumph over the exhaust parts. Moisture and powdered carbon also work at the exhaust parts from the inside. The moisture is produced while the engine is running.

Have you ever seen drops of water falling from the back of a car’s tailpipe? This is the moisture produced in the engine.

Working at the exhaust parts from inside and out, it’s no wonder that mufflers and pipes eventually develop holes where gasses and noise escape. If those gasses make their way into the passenger compartment, you could find yourself experiencing headaches. It’s not good for you.

The noise, of course, will fill the passenger compartment forcing you to speak louder when conversing, or to turn the radio up when listening.

Eventually, if you let it go far enough, the rusty exhaust pipes will break. We’ve seen these cars, too. We see them driving down the road with a shower of sparks underneath from the bad muffler dragging on the pavement.

At the very least, there’s a sense of embarrassment when the exhaust system grows louder and louder. You may find yourself giving bashful looks to perfect strangers when you notice they’ve looked over thinking you must be driving some kind of junker because the exhaust is so loud. In the meantime, your Richmond neighbors are starting to talk about you and that bad muffler.