MANIFOLD

MANIFOLD / EXHAUST

It was about 2:30 a.m. when I returned from a long distance trip. I was tired but smiled to myself before I climbed into bed because my 2007 VW Polo Classic Highline really performed well and brought me home without incident. I was amazed, blown away in fact. 

After breakfast the following morning, I intended to go to Milnerton to see a client but when I started the VW Polo, I was greeted by  frighteningly loud noise. I smiled too soon. Immediately I switched off the engine. It actually sounded like the VW Polo had no manifold system fitted at all. For the record it wasn't like the sound of a broken silencer or a hole in the exhaust system. It literally sounded as if there wasn't any exhaust system at all.

My first thought was that someone must have liberated my exhaust system during the night whist I was asleep and sold it off as scrap metal. Theft in my locality has become quite rife and this is known to have happened. Radiators and batteries seem to be targeted more often.  However, on closer inspection I was relieved that the exhaust was still there. I started the VW Polo once more rolled underneath the front suspension and discovered hot air was blowing from a space  where the flange gasket is located. It was very awkward to get my hand in there and I was wondering what this repair was going to cost. A trip to "Mister Silencer" and three hundred and twenty bucks later the VW Polo was once again ready for the road. I expected one of the dashboard EPC warning lights to light-up or one of the CanBus interconnected computer modules to immobilize the car but its seems that the manifold exhaust  just runs much too hot to attach a sensor to it.

Anyway, in order to fix or fit a new flange gasket the complete knuckle had to be removed. They hoisted the car on a maintenance lift and inspected its underside for the origin of the noise. It came from above the flexible bend which looked like matted wire mesh. Essentially the joint between the manifold branch and the exhaust manifold had to be removed.  I was told the flexible mesh compensate for vibration, should the silencer knock against a pavement of something, it wouldn't brake off of get damaged because of its flexibility.

Just two days prior to this, a young women ran into my rear bumper with her sparkling new look Audi A8 whilst she was chatting on her cellphone. There was no physical damage to neither of the cars but thought that she was the cause that my exhaust had given trouble. According to the dude at "Mister Silencer", its highly unlikely because the impact from behind would not have pushed the exhaust towards the engine because of its flexibility. Oh well,  either way I had to pay for it. FYI my VW Polo had every service on time since new and currently has 88250 Km on the clock. Soon it will be going for its 90000 km service and my timing belt will be changed. I've been driving with the dreaded fear that it might snap in mid travel and bend all my valves in the process or even bust the tops of one or two pistons.

In my first blog I mentioned I simply love German engineering because when a German designed car snaps a timing belt, there is no mechanical damage to the engine. This is so unlike the Japanese, American, English and French designed cars, all of which bend valves, bend conrods, break pistons or knock holes through their cylinder block. Since my VW Polo Classic 2.0L Highline is soooo different from all the previous German cars I owned, I just have this feeling it was designed along the same money making monopolistic ideology of modern car design - the cash cow that  sells spare parts.

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