VW Jetta 1997

jrb01

I have a 1997 Jetta and the exhaust system has rusted out. I take good car of the car, have regular maintenance, and live in an area with little harsh weather.

Can anyone give me advice on if this is just normal wear and tear or what could have caused the exhaust to rust out in only a few years? How long would this process (of rusting) take?

Thanks!

lngtonge18

I would say your exhaust rusting through so early is quite unusual. You mave have got a batch of poor quality steel that was used for the exhaust. How many miles are on the car and where exactly did it rust out? Do you live in snow country? My 84 VW Rabbit GTI still has its original exhaust except for the muffler! The muffler wore out when the car was 13 years old. The intermediate pipe is on its last legs as I already patched one hole on it, but it still works and is quiet. I have 200K+ miles on my car. Granted, I live in Florida where we don't deal with snow salt, but we do have to deal with sea salt in the air. The rusting process usually takes a long time to wear out a hole. It took about 6 years before the hole on my intermediate pipe opened up, even though a muffler shop told me it had only a year left max. My mom's 92 Accord went 184K miles with no exhaust repairs. So, I would have to say the exhaust on your car was made of some poor quality steel. Hope this insight helps a little.

mdecamps

One reason that may have caused the rust on your car is if you do a lot of short trips. This doesn't allow all of the moisture to be burned out of the system and is the #1 contributor to exhaust system failure. Other than that, I would agree that maybe you just had a "bad" exhaust system. Hope this helps.