Engine muffler exhaust questions

muffler exhaust questions

Hi I backed into a tall curb and it bent up my stock muffler and my piping. My check engine light came on but I'm not sure if it was after I hit the curb. I have a couple questions.

1)I got a cheap aspec bootleg apex muffler and I hear complains about the bumble bee sound. If I kept the silencer on, would it still make that noise?

2)Would it reduce the horsepower keeping the silencer on.

3)Do those cheap mufflers reduce horsepower compared to the stock?

2)I brought my car to a few places and the computers read that it's the catillic converter. One guy says to change the whole piping, another says it could be the o2 censors which is a big difference. An observation I made was that I reseted the computer a few times. And I think the check engine light has to do with the overheating of something? B/c in the summer with the hot weather the check engine light came back on real quick around 100 miles. I resetted it again and in the fall when it got a little cold out, I've gone I believe over 300 miles without it turning back on. Does anyone have any advice.

I just don't want to change the whole piping if it's the o2 censors and I don't want to change the o2 censors if it's the piping. Neither of them are pocket change repairs. A guy told me that he'll charge $35 to check it out. If I give him the go with the repair then he'll take the 35 out and just charge me the labor and parts to fix it. I might just run with that plan.

check the whole exhaust system yourself.
maybe you have hit it so hard that some damage was done to the cat and somewhere along the line, u have a leak - maybe. so it's causing your CEL to come on.
or maybe coz the piping is bent so the exhaust is not exiting fast enough so the o2 sensors are getting a different reading and causing your CEL to come on.
your CEL will keep coming back till u fix the problem.

for the muffler, it wont give u much extra horses. maybe 1 or 2 extra horses.
for the sound, it will sound the same if you leave the silencer. if u take it off, i will be louder.

What is the code?

Bent piping will not cause a check engine light to come on. more than likely you have a bad 02 sensor. Is the code a catalytic converter efficiency code or an 02 sensor code?
Any after market muffler should raise horse power some. Might not be much, but would improve over stock. As for the bumble bee sound leaving the resinator in will help with that. Does not effect horse power to much. I have a 2002 corolla and left mine intact. Did notice a small upgrade in power with just exhaust from the axle back. I prefer the tone with the resinator verses with out. Granted the muffler itself is what determines the tone of the exhaust more so than anything else. You will get a higher "bumble bee" sound with out the resinator. I would suggest trying the muffler with the resinator in it to see if you like the sound before you take it out. easier to remove than having to re-install. If you can provide me the diagnostic trouble code I can give you more info for your check engine light.

Thanks for the reply

Well I'm not sure about the diagnostic trouble code. I went to autozone and they told me it was something wrong with cylinder 1 and that it was feeding gas too richly but not burning it quick enough. I dont know if that's more narrowed down than the garage that told me it was the catalytic converter. I think i notice my gas mileage got worse too but I'm not too positive.