Hello all. Just bought a 68 Cutlass flattop wagon with 350 Rocket 142000 miles.The other day on the freeway the car stalled, 5 seconds later the muffler exploded. What causes mufflers to explode?

 

I hate when that happens.
My guess is when the engine stalled the unburned fuel went into the exhaust and was ignited somehow. Is that what a backfire is?
Long ago I blew dual mufflers up on a pick-up truck while trying to re-jet the carb.

Sounds like a cool car, any pics?
You don't see too many flat tops for sale, they seem to be more rare then the Vista Cruisers anymore.

 

I believe you saw it already. I won it on ebay last month The blue one.

 

Yup. Either that or Emeril Lagasse is in your muffler... (BAM!).

 

that reminds me of my teenage years. me and my friends had an old beater that we would drop in first gear, turn off the key, floor the throttle, and turn the key back on and boom! one day we had the key off a little to long and blew the mufflers off the car. it would sound like a shotgun X3. that poor Pontiac had it rough it's last 2 years of life.

as for your problem, it is from to much gas vapor gathered in the muffler and was ignited.

 

X2 of the old turn the key off floor it then Boom, only blew holes in the mufflers my old cars were always low on compression. What do you expect from a 50 dollar car

 

we always called it "the key bomb"

 

Check the condenser on the distributor, that happened to my 72 years ago, the condenser came loose, stalled for a second, filled the exhaust with unburnt fuel, then it fired again blowing up both mufflers

 

Thanks for reminding me how stupid I was. That "class act" had completely escaped my memory banks.

 

We used to do that with the old bucket truck with a 366. Scare the heck out of people when you were close to them. Put a little too much fuel into the exhaust and it will blow holes in the muffler. You need to find out why the car stalled on you as this could cause repeat episodes. The exhaust should rumble and roar not bang like a shotgun. The bigger the bang the more damage it will cause and not just to the muffler.

 

I did this to a police officer once.
I figured I was going to get pulled over since it was snowing like crazy outside and the convertible top was stuck down. I was 17 and told him I just bought the car and had to fix it.

He was walking back to his car when I let her rip.
You should have seen the guy duck.

 

This happened to me in a much different way. I had the nut loosen on the positive side of the coil. the connector was allowed to center itself where the connnection was lost then come back into conection in effect shutting the car off then on again. The car emdiately got loud. I pulle over and looked under the car and could find nothing wrong. It wasn't till a few days after I really got my head up in there to see the top of the muffler where the seem was split wide open. Being he young kid I was I went to Meineke and had them stick a cherrybomb on it with the side exit infront of the rear wheel.

 

Had a similar situation happen when we were traveling from Tennessee to California on the old Route 66 in '76. We were in west Texas or maybe New Mexico on a Sunday morning when the muffler blew. We were driving a '74 Maverick with a six cylinder engine and pulling a little U-Haul trailer. I don't really know why the car backfired but it blew the muffler clean off. At first I thought I had a blowout and grabbed the wheel and white-knuckeled it. The good Lord was with us that day as I found someone in the next town that owned an auto parts store and sold me a generic muffler that fit and a few clamps to hang it. We limped on to California and I had it welded up right the next week.

 

You never told me that story!

 

Dads don't tell there kids everything. What you think we're stupid, then you go tell your mom what dad did.

 

oic..so i guess,,this is a usual thing that happens to an automobile..i suggest you use flowmaster mufflers..

 

lol tx the memory.

Very effective going past bus stops .As good as finding a puddle next to bunch of pedestrians.

 

Only problem - mufflers don't last so long...

 

:d:d:d

 

Me and a bud were driving from Canada to L.A. ...

460 ford in a 64 stude truck ...

Luckily the muff blew coming down the pass south of medford ...

Pretty much driving at 100 miles per hour with open exhaust would keep you awake for about an hour. Then it's the next guys turn ...

I remember being so burnt that The drone of the wide open fat block lulled me to sleep ...

The looks we got when we'd pass a beemer or a vette ...

...

 

Had a pertronix electronic ignition do the same thing. Dropped dead, loaded up, and then fired, blowing out both of my mufflers on my dual exhaust. Pertronix was nice enough to warrantee the ignition (which I promptly sold on e-bay) and bought a mallory.

Never heard of the old the "turn the key off" while driving trick. Exactly what prompts one to turn a 3800 lb car into the off position while driving..... Hope you had large arm and leg muscles.