Aftermarket exhaust no good - legal advice needed please

marko2002

Thats interesting, only thing that still worries me is the 1 CAT thing, but I guess that's easily answered with an emission test!. Once I have this done I'll post back with the results, could be interesting!!

goldspanners

i would agree with mark d, your exhaust will change its noise over the course of its life.
if you have bought an aftermarket exhaust it will not sound the same,as the noise is determined by the size/shape of the tube used and the size/shape of cats and silencers,an aftermarket company cant make it the same as genuine as they would get in a bit of trouble due to the copyright.
i think you are looking at it all wrong.
look at it as "hey,ive saved £400 because i didnt buy it from the dealer"
ok its sounds a bit different but really does it matter?

marko2002

I hear what your saying GS, but I honestly can't say the noise is purely down to an aftermarket noise. I know it's easy for me to say that and you guys can't hear it but I honestly think you would feel the same if you could hear it. My dilemma comes purely from not knowing where the noise is coming from, if I take it to KF they'll no doubt tell me it's not the part they fitted, and Budget vice versa so the only choice I have is to take it to an independant garage; good place to start is getting the emissions done which I'm booking in for this Friday so fingers crossed either way!!
Cheers
Mark

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Drive the car up onto ramps, run the engine, and put your hand around the exhaust joints. Or just hold a bit of thin paper around the joints.

If theres a leak, you'll feel/see it.

Is it a tinny clattery noise? Or is the exhaust note simply louder?

marko2002

when I start the car first thing, it's a major rasping type noise, not tinny or really clattery, but more deeper to be honest (if that makes sense!) although I can run the car for 30 mins or so and then the next time I start it the noise doesn't seem quite as bad (it's almost as if it subsides slightly after it heats up). I don't know if it's just my imagination also, but I reckon the car actually heats up much much quicker than it did before, it doesn't overheat or anything, it just seems to get right up to the normal temp very quickly.

Cheers
Mark

MarkyMarkD

Our exhaust is leaking a bit and it's still not too noisy now that it's bedded down. It was advisory on the MOT a year ago and we haven't had it fixed. It will not surprise me if it fails on the MOT this year but hopefully it can be fixed rather than replaced.

marko2002

surely if it was a new exhaust you'll have a warranty Mark? usually something like 3 years for an exhaust and 2 for a cat

MarkyMarkD

It's years old. It was noisy for a year or two, then settled down. Then last year it sprang a (presumably very minor) leak which was an MOT advisory.

The Laguna (now my wife's car although it used to be mine) only does 3k miles a year so that's probably why it took so long to quieten down.

tomstickland

Raspy sound suggests that it is blowing somewhere.

vaio

If you block the tailpipe whilst the engine is idling it makes it much easier to identify any leaks