OEM Exhaust rusted after four years. Recommendations?

[Gtin]

Not certain what you really want in an exhaust but if you like a decently loud car my buddy had a cat back 2.5 inch pipe ran to a flowmaster 40 series a few years ago before I bought my Volvo from him. It's still holding strong but the cat ended up rusting itself in two so I had it cut out and replaced with a flowmaster high flow unit from summit racing. It sounds fantastic to me and seems to be holding up pretty well

[abscate]

One of my pals here uses the Starla’s And reports about 3 years life in the Northeast.

He flattens them, ships them back to FCP, for full warranty coverage.

I’m goimg that route if needed. I’ll take them to my indie for install on his lift.

[callahanoffroad]

One of my pals here uses the Starla’s And reports about 3 years life in the Northeast.

He flattens them, ships them back to FCP, for full warranty coverage.

I’m goimg that route if needed. I’ll take them to my indie for install on his lift.

Define "flattens" like he folds them into a small shippable size or he smashes the pipe flat but leaves the length. Inquiring minds want to know!

[E Showell]

No, I don't "flatten," I actually hacksaw them into small enough pieces to fit in whatever box I happen to have at hand. (usually an FCP box). That has involved leaving the resonator intact and just trimming the pipes to fit. When I do that, I make sure the failure point is obvious and far away from a place I cut. The combo is borla exhaust and starla muffler or vice versa (depending on which outfit makes which unit). As Steve said, expect that combo to last about three years in the Northeast, but I couldn't see doubling the value of my car by adding oem exhaust components, even if they do last 15+ years.

At one point, FCP was using photos of exhaust components I had shipped back to them on their warranty page. (I recognized where the pipes had been hacksawed).

I did not use the high temperature paint strategy, but will do so the next time I have to replace an exhaust.

[abscate]

Lets see, legally, Im operating Evita on consignment, so doesn't that mean you retain ownership and hence all my parts are still warranted?



#DontbeanevilmonsterandscewFCPonagreatwarrantyprogram

[E Showell]

Uh, no

[crlande]

My 850 had a Starla muffler put on two years ago for inspection. It is now rusted through and being replaced for this year's inspection.

[E Showell]

I do a lot of highway driving. Everything gets up to temperature and the water gets boiled off.

[Eddystone]

Is it possible that my exhaust is rotting prematurely due to unburnt fuel passing into the exhaust? Or could it be because my 18 year old catalytic converter is not functioning properly?

From the photos, it looks as if you started with galvanized steel with ungalvanized (obviously) welds that burned off the galvanization in the areas adjacent to the welds.

[FireFox31]

From the photos, it looks as if you started with galvanized steel with ungalvanized (obviously) welds that burned off the galvanization in the areas adjacent to the welds.

That's how it came from Volvo. The pipes and welds rusted, as did the inside metal grate of the final muffler. Seems like terrible quality.

I now have the Ferrita Performance exhaust. Honestly, I hate it. At specific RPMs, it resonates the car causing a roar in the cabin. It's unnerving. With the OEM exhaust, I could hear the engine and how it was working. Now all I hear is the exhaust. I suspect it's simply not engineered well, unable to do its one job as a muffler. I paid a fortune for it, had to cut off the end to weld it to my cat pipe (that's a long painful story), so now I'm stuck with it. Actually makes me hate my beloved Volvo, encouraging me to drive my 2002 Mercedes E320 wagon instead because that (OEM) exhaust actually does its job.