I have a 1995 Accord LX - 4cyl, 4dr 5 spd manual - At 110k the exhaust got real loud very suddenly. When I took it in to a nationally known muffler shop they told me the center pipe was shot. Got that replaced but when I drove to work I noticed that every time I downshifted or backed off the gas it was quite loud and sort of bassy...as in coasting down a hill or slowing to a stop light it goes HMMHMMHHMMMM ...(probably more noticeable inside the car than outside).

Took it back and they tightened some gaskets - no better. Took it back again and let them replace the muffler. ka-ching! Still no better. The car definitely sounds worse than it did right before the center pipe broke.

What could cause this? Could the shop have done an incomplete or inferior replacement? The shop, of course, insists that they have done everything they could.

Help - I don't want this car to sound like a hot rod!

 

New muffler didn't fix the problem? Why should you pay for it? (Easy for me to say...)

Maybe when you let off the gas, the engine rotates in its mounts, bringing the exhaust up closer to the floorpan, where it hits something. If so, it sounds like a poor job aligning all the exhaust hangers.

Or maybe the REAL problem all along is bad engine mounts.

 

You may want to check to see if they eliminated the resonator out of the center pipe that could cause the car to sound a bit louder as well. Just to let you know the resonator looks like a glasspack or cherrybomb muffer behind the catalytic converter in the middle of that center pipe. if your not sure what a glasspack or cherrybomb looks like look for a bulged out area in the center pipe that is approx 1-2 ft long.