Exploding muffler !!

[wayfarerstranger]

WENT to crank my 49 PLYMOUTH WOODIE today and it sounded like a canon went off .... my muffler exploded and blew wide open .. has this ever happened tom you ????

[RobertKB]

Nearly blew the muffler off my '38 Chrysler shortly after finishing restoration. Had gas build up in the muffler as unburned fuel because the distributor had a bad wire and and must have cut out for a while. When it finally ignited a plug it must have blown flame all the way back to the muffler. I thought a cannon had gone off and said to my wife, "What the @*#+ was that?" Had a good mechanic on the tour with me and he figured it out pretty quickly. Did a quick repair and it was OK until I got home. Muffler still works fine but it does look a bit bloated. My guess is that happened to you as well.

[JIPJOBXX]

Yep of course you had a back fire! If your timming is way oft this can occure. If you have a Model Ford you can do this all the time by just advancing the manual advance on the steering columm. I thought I did that with my Dodge a few weeks ago but the muffler survide but it sure brought my attention span to full bore. Your probably way oft on your timming or you just pumped to much gas into the engine and from there it went back through the tail pipe and boom when the engine finally did fire up!!!!! I even one time had a rotary Mazda and it back fired quit alot when excelerating and a cop pulled me over and thought I had fire a weapon at him.

[BobT-47P15]

Last time mine backfired I was driving down the street.

Did it at least three times.

The oval muffler became the fat oval muffler.

Replaced the sticking points, and all was well again.

[Don Coatney]

A Back-fire or backfire is an explosion produced by a running internal combustion engine that occurs in the intake or exhaust system rather than inside the combustion chamber. The same term is used when unburned fuel or hydrocarbons are ignited somewhere in the exhaust system. A visible flame may momentarily shoot out of the exhaust pipe. Either condition causes an objectionable popping noise, together with possible loss of power and forward motion. A backfire is a separate phenomenon from the fire produced by Top Fuel dragsters.

Also, an explosion in the inlet manifold, carburetor/throttle body, or air cleaner of an internal combustion engine can occur when the intake valves are not shut prior to fuel combustion

The term was derived from experiences with early unreliable firearms or ammunition, in which the explosive force was directed out the breech instead of the muzzle. From this came the use of the word "backfire" as a verb to indicate something that produces an unintended, unexpected, and undesired result.

For the rest of the story go here. Good reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-fire

[oldodge41]

As a youngster I used to run around with a buddy who liked to shut off the ignition on his Paps Chevy pickup at about 35mph for a little bit and then turn it back on. The "boom" would get everyone's attention, Sometimes at night you would see some fire too. Great fun until he blew the seam on the muffler one time and Pap was not even a little amused when he found out what his Grandson had been up to with his truck........LOL!

[Plymouthy Adams]

as a teen this was a favorite of mine..got to where the cats in the nighborhood would run at the sight of that big Plymouth coming their way..and once it was the key to the ultimate revenge for this punk kid in the neighborhood ..but that be another story...

[Don Coatney]

As a youngster I used to run around with a buddy who liked to shut off the ignition on his Paps Chevy pickup at about 35mph for a little bit and then turn it back on. The "boom" would get everyone's attention, Sometimes at night you would see some fire too. Great fun until he blew the seam on the muffler one time and Pap was not even a little amused when he found out what his Grandson had been up to with his truck........LOL!

Been there, done that. And my Pap was also not amused when he had to spring for a new muffler.

[wayfarerstranger]

THANX for the input now i need to scounge up a new muffler and perform a little surgery....

[greg g]

I would also check for the reason tha raw gas is entering your system.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I would also check for the reason tha raw gas is entering your system.

fix the hole in the floorboard beneath the drivers seat and lay off the beenie weenies..

[manitobamopar]

half can of ether / starting fluid on a 68 New Yorker 383 made an awfully large boom......and deafened by brother in law who was under the hood at the time for a few minutes.......after that, it sounded like NASCAR !

the impetuousness of youth

[LAKOTA169]

My son's car does it on command. Has a spark plug in the tail pipe. Pushes a switch in the car. Kills the ignition for a second and fires the tail pipe plug and ignites the unburned fuel. Not legal for street use. Pic was taken in front of police station.

[Powerhouse]

AH memories... I had that happen once in my 57 bel-air...JUST after having the new exhaust system installed. They didn't replace it for free. I had such a leaky rusted out exhaust system before it that I was running a bit rich and didn't know it. I twas pretty much just leaking out and evaporating. The new system kept it in...untill the next morning. Left quite a dent in the pavement and got ALL the neighbor's attention. hahaha.

Timing IS everything.

[WatchingWolf]

We used to call them "key pops" Turn off the key, push in the clutch, pump the heck out of the gas pedal, let out the clutch and flip the key back on. Took a little training to get the timing right but when you did........BOOM! Now your granny car sounds like a hot rod.

[Don Coatney]

Geez dad, I dont know how it happened, it just went boom!

[P-12 Tommy]

I had a '67 Imperial in the late '70s that did that. The ballast resister went and in order to get it home I had to hold the key in between on and start. My fingers got tired and I let go of the key. I turned the key back and BOOM. Blew the seam right out of the muffler. At the time I didn't have a jumper wire to hook to the resister temporarily.

Tom