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1990 Nissan 240SX

Question: The right exhaust

Question

trenidy_della, Jacksonville, FL, July 31, 2009, 20:14
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 Rookie

I know nothing about the particulars that are supposed to go on my car, but I did know that I had needed a knew muffler back in march. I didn't notice a problem when I got it replaced, being amazed at having a quiet car again, but now the car is faltering and choking like it is going to cut off. The car also sometimes expels a bit of smoke and tends to smell like it is burning this days. Has become prone to overheating but I've had the internal cooling replaced after it completely died January 2008. Someone told me that I had the wrong muffler on my car. When I got the new muffler I was told that it was a universal one and I had said that was fine since they were out of the double ones and I didn't really think anything of it. How much of a difference does this make and where should I go to get this fixed?

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  • Answer #1

    patrick mannion from Greg Solow's Engine Room, July 31, 2009, 20:54
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    Unless the muffler is restricted inside causing back pressure it will not be causing the problem you describe. You mention the car has been prone to overheating, that concerns me, perhaps the head gasket is blown or mildly blown. I have seen the intake manifold gasket fail causing a vacuum leak, it could be a multitude of things very hard to guess at without being able to drive the car and experience the problem firsthand. Does the engine idle smoothly or does the idle feel rough? Is the "choking and faltering " experienced at idle , mild acceleration or only under prolonged acceleration or under load?

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    trenidy_della, August 01, 2009, 06:59
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    When I heard that the muffler could be the problem, the person told me that it would cause gaskets to blow because it was too small for my car. He said "Like putting a mask on and trying to breath." The choking and faltering problem occurs during acceleration. Once I get up close to my desired speed and let off the gas the tiniest bit the RPM will drop quite a bit. It is a 5 speed Manual Transmission. Not changing my speed at all the car seems to do relatively fine though the RPM seems much higher than it should be for certain speeds.

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