Exhaust System: Basic Muffler Facts.

How is the noise level of your car or truck? If you've ever heard an engine running without a muffler, you can hear the difference it makes to the noise level coming from your vehicle's exhaust system. A muffler is designed to reflect the sound waves produced by the engine so that they partially cancel themselves out.

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Sound Waves?

Sound is a pressure wave formed from pulses of alternating high and low air pressure. These pulses make their way through the air at the speed of sound. Pulses are created when an exhaust valve opens and a burst of high-pressure gas suddenly enters the exhaust system. The molecules in the gas collide with the lower-pressure molecules in the pipe, causing them to stack up on each other. They in turn stack up on the molecules a little further down the pipe, leaving an area of low pressure behind, moving the sound wave down the pipe faster than the gases.

How does the Muffler "muffle" sound?

Located inside the muffler, you'll find a deceptively simple set of tubes with some holes in them. These tubes are designed to create reflected waves that interfere with each other or cancel each other out. The exhaust gases and the sound waves enter the muffler through the center tube. They bounce off the back wall and are reflected through a hole into the main body of the muffler. They pass through a set of holes into another chamber, where they turn and go out the last pipe, and quietly leave the muffler.

Resonator or Muffler?

Some cars, especially luxury cars where quiet operation is a key feature, have another component in the exhaust system that looks like a muffler, but is called a resonator. The waves reflected by the resonator help cancel out certain frequencies of sound in the exhaust system. The resonator contains a specific volume of air and has a specific length that is calculated to produce a wave that cancels out a certain frequency of sound.

Questions about your vehicle's exhaust system? Contact our ASE Certified Technicians at Rum River Automotive by calling (763) 389-3811, or go on-line at http://www.rumriverauto.com/ for more information about mufflers. Since 1997, our auto repair shop has served vehicle owners in Princeton, MN, and in the surrounding areas of Milaca and Zimmerman, MN.