rear mufler can hole

[zak]

I was driving around last weekend and noticed a louder then normal sound from the muffler in the rear.
With car running ( and hand brake hard on) I crawled under to take a look and sure enough there was a perfectly round hole about a half inch in diameter on the bottom side about one inch from the rear end of the muffler that I had never seen before. When I put my gloved finger over the hole the sound ceased. Looking for a quick fix I took some brillo pad made of steel wool and worked a piece into the hole by spinning it in and the sound was normal again.

The hole just seemed too perfect to me to be made by rust --  smooth round edges  etc. Is there I plug in that area that may have fallen out?
I read in the Star back when that George Murphy used to drill a small hole in the muffler in that area so condensed moisture could drip out, thus saving the muffler from rust.

A minor issue, but I am glad that all I ever had to deal with on this car were minor issues.

jz

 

[ja17]

As you muffler rusts from the inside out, the  metal thins then holes develop. Sounds like the hole in your muffler is too large to be intentional. A patch can be a temporary fix. Be careful using steel wool. Believe it or not, it is extremely flammable!

[Pawel66]

Not that it is common, but I have seen people making holes in mufflers for draining water. They used various kinds of plugs for those holes. Maybe you had something like this and the plug just fell off.

[zak]

I would have flames out the rear with burning steel wool !
Plus it has soap on as it came from a brillo pot scrubbing pad.

I read somewhere that old Rolls and Bentleys had their mufflers wrapped in lead to soften the noise.

Thanks,

jz