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For the last couple of weeks I heard a rattle in left rear. Found the heat shield above the rear muffler had broken free. Upon inspection I realized that the rumble I have been hearing had something to do with the bad patch job someone had done on my upper half of the muffler. Unbelievable. Not sure what the large numbers you can see on the metal are from, but a rust free eBay replacement fixed the issue. I know rusty mufflers are a thing on these cars. Was a fairly easy fix, fyi.
Looks like they were from an ES haha, the exhaust system is cheap crap...mine are starting to go but it looks like it,s a design flaw because there are small indentations in a pattern on them. I have one that drains condensation after a drive, it's hasn't been drilled though....maybe a weld rivet. My 96 400 had a stainless system and not a leak in 26 yrs.
Why did it always seem to be the drivers side muffler? I just did this job. I bought an OEM muffler for a total cost of $500 and that's because I went to the dealer to pick it up. There are no aftermarket options besides the Walker muffler which is about $300 without shipping so I just went with OEM.
Those spots in the pictures look like spot welds on the inside holding all the guts together. After years of heat cycles and in areas with road salting, thus corrosion, it's no wonder. Perhaps the LS 400 / 430 just happens to have structure under the car that prevents (as much) crap from getting up on top the mufflers. But if salt and condensation get up there and settle, yeah, it's gonna corrode, quality or not.
A little noisy....
