A few weeks ago,I recently noticed that my 1999 Pontiac Sunfire GT was making more noise than usual....so when i had my last oil change done, i had the people at Midas take a look at it. They showed me a hole in the exhaust that was causing the hole...at first they recommended replacing the whole thing, but then they found out they couldn't get the part so they said they recommend having it welded by them for around $45.
Since then my car has been acting funny while driving....specifically when i am driving on the freeway and let off the gas, it seems that the car revs down ...and then when i come to a stop at an exit ramp, it stalls. Wasn't sure if that has anything to do with the exhaust, but Midas did switch out the air filter in my car too when they did the oil change. So after it stalling around 3 times today, i brought it in again to Midas and they said that there was another hole that has to be fixed, but, more importantly, the link holding the front part of the exhaust together with the back exhaust was rusting out and that i would need to have that piece taken out and they would weld that together. Does that sound right? They said it would be around $130 to do that.
or does anyone have a picture of the bottom of a 1999 Pontiac Sunfire GT?
sorry man you gotta be more specific ..link as in flex pipe ?? catalytic converter ?? resonator ?? or just a random part of the exhaust pipe..and the only thing that i can think of is the exhaust could mess with your back pressure and stuff like that ..check engine light on ? or anything ?? ..and what kind of noise? just a loud exhaust ?? or something like ticking ? knocking? pinging?? or clicking?? and so on......also how does it idle at start up?? and when it reaches operating temperature ??and alot of things could cause the car to stall so im trying to help eliminate as much as we can here.
my first piece of advice would be to find a reputable local mechanic. Ask your friends and family who they bring their car too. Look in your area for a good shop online. Read reviews on google, or other places. In my experience, places like midas, monro, firestone, etc aren't that great. They throw parts at cars rather than diagnose the problem. This may not be the case in your area, but in general, that's what I've found.
The stalling thing is usually related to an IAC problem, fuel problem, or spark problem. Not very likely it has anything to do with the exhaust, unless the cat is plugged. But yeah, the more details you can give the better we can help.
Gonna sound real stupid, but is the abs light on? My old 01 did something similar a few years ago. Figured out it was a bad abs fuse underhood. The exhaust should have nothing to do with the car stalling unless they welded it almost shut. An open hole would only make it loud.
I am thinking it might be a fuel filter problem....is there any easy way to find out? (i assume not)
Easy way would be to just change the fuel filter. They're only a couple bucks and last one I played with was dead simple to get to.
Last one I bought was $10, midaswell replace it just so you don't have to worry about it.
As far as exhaust, if it actually is in bad shape, I'd take it to a local exhaust shop as suggested and just replace everything. You can get a universal Thunderbolt cat for $40 and a Dynomax Super Turbo muffler/tip for $60. Then it was only $60 to have my entire system welded up from the header back. Instead of $130 to patch your stock exhaust, you can spend $30ish more and have a completely new setup that is more efficient. You could go with 2.25" piping now and get the $160 Pacesetter header later to finish it off.
Is the car throwing any codes?
