GreenMachine Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 You all know my father owns a 98 Deville. After the snow storm it got loud, I think he may have ran over something or rocked on a snow bank...but that besides the point. The section of pipe between the cat and the y-split was no longer attached. To seperated pipes, and for some reason, he shows me a 400 dollar bill from the muffler place for this. Apparently the two workers who were working on his car conditions couldn't figure out that once the 4.9L was dropped the Sedan Deville went resonatorless, simple cat, to y-split, to mufflers.... Whats sketchy is that it would seem is that they simply took an old Salesman down a road of technical jargin that only car enthusiasts would understand....and what did they think about the LACK of resonator before the put one in? So after reading the bill I go to make sure they at least did put all the say on the invoice on the car...and they did, the slapped that glasspack right in there where the pipes were broken apart. The car feels even more sluggish and at part throttle I can feel it struggle to get up to speed. I think the added back pressure is actually causing an issue performance wise, its not even really that long of a pack. It sound good at idle, but horrible threw the rest of the ranges, I can't believe the sound they have "re-engineered" into the exhuast. ALso when I first "get on it" or start to give a bit of gas I feel a stumble and shutter from the engine that I KNOW was not there before, we all know these cars, and I don't have children or pets so for now the two vehicles in my signature are kinda like that These guys have done great work in the past. Gonna give them a shot at making it right, but as of now I'm looking for a new muffler shop. Crooks everywhere these days. The Green's Machines 1998 Deville - high mileage, keeps on going, custom cat-back exhaust 2003 Seville - stock low mileage goodness! 2004 Grand Prix GTP CompG - Smaller supercharger pulley, Ported Exhaust Manifolds, Dyno tune, etc 1998 Firebird Formula - 408 LQ9 Stroker motor swap and all sorts of go fast stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jim Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 I would also give them a chance to make it "RIGHT." Just ask them to REMOVE the resonator and replace it with a regular piece of exhaust pipe... the way it should have been done to start with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMachine Posted December 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2007 Drove it to work today and the more I heard the odd noises the more i wondered if maybe it was a leak somewhere.... Well it was. One of the welds had a bit of a leak in it. When I went over they took care of that no problem. Also adjusted the way they put the pipes in so the pipe wasn't hitting anything (part of the noises I was hearing). To my surprise, the Deville does have a resonator on it. The showed me the old pipe, don't know how I missed that, big "D'oh". Also their invoice calls resonators glass packs even though it is not. Pretty much what has happened is my dad came in, they offered him some aluminized piping or something to that effect, he wanted stainless, but instead of just replacing the resonator and some pipe around it they replaced from the cat back to the mufflers. This included custom bending, a y-pipe split, more cutting and some welding. Quickly took the bill higher. Looking at the old pipe which is simply put "just old" they said it was past it life expectancy and I would be coming back and they would be patching it up even more...but to my eye there wasn't any visible rust, at the ends where they cut it off it look just fine other than the inside being black. The new pipe simply is cleaner, a bit more luster. Pretty much to conclude this, I should have taken the car in myself so I could have directed them in the direction I wanted to go (I probably would have just dropped the resonator all together and saved 150+) It honestly appeared they saw a man with a Caddy, and fixed it the "best money can buy" way..which seems to be the best way some times....which is probably the way my dad asked for it With the exhaust leak taken care off the car sounds much better, a little more rumble than before. Maybe the anger in my head made the car seem slower, an exhaust leak can do that maybe? (was whistling pretty good from the leak). All in all I am content, the leak and pipe position were an issue, but that is taken care of now. I think that big of a bill just hurts all the time. The Green's Machines 1998 Deville - high mileage, keeps on going, custom cat-back exhaust 2003 Seville - stock low mileage goodness! 2004 Grand Prix GTP CompG - Smaller supercharger pulley, Ported Exhaust Manifolds, Dyno tune, etc 1998 Firebird Formula - 408 LQ9 Stroker motor swap and all sorts of go fast stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAUL T Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Correct me if I am wrong but, isn't a stainless tail pipe expensive? I would expect more than $400.00 from the cat back to the mufflers that included the resonator. Maybe I am way off here. My 94 Concours with 168,000 still has the original exhaust system. It is showing its age though, a hanger in front of the mufflers has rusted off and caused a small hole in the pipe. What does a replacement exhaust from the cat back cost? Anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMachine Posted January 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 They did custom bending too. I'm not upset anymore really. From the dealer the parts are very expensive. A custom shop shouldn't have to much trouble with it. It is pretty much everything from the cat, resonator, split, and them to the mufflers, which are new. so basically I have a complete cat-back system for the caddy now The Green's Machines 1998 Deville - high mileage, keeps on going, custom cat-back exhaust 2003 Seville - stock low mileage goodness! 2004 Grand Prix GTP CompG - Smaller supercharger pulley, Ported Exhaust Manifolds, Dyno tune, etc 1998 Firebird Formula - 408 LQ9 Stroker motor swap and all sorts of go fast stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Correct me if I am wrong but, isn't a stainless tail pipe expensive? I would expect more than $400.00 from the cat back to the mufflers that included the resonator. Maybe I am way off here. My 94 Concours with 168,000 still has the original exhaust system. It is showing its age though, a hanger in front of the mufflers has rusted off and caused a small hole in the pipe. What does a replacement exhaust from the cat back cost? Anyone? Hi Paul, I had the pleasure of having that replaced recently. The section of pipe from the cat back also includes the Y section. This is true for my 94STS but not sure about your 94 Concours. It is a special order only pipe. The dealer, Midas, Cole, none of them stock it. Not sure about the price but I recall it being right around the $200-300 mark. And this is for a non-stainless pipe. The last time I replaced this same section, I believe, was about 4-5 years ago. Not bad. "Burns" rubber " I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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