Recently the rear muffler disintegrated on my wagon. I had purchased a Starla system from FCP groton which was supposed to be an exact fit. A garage put the thing in and it does not fit correctly. The flange between the cat and tail pipe leaked. The guys who put it in were the only avaiable crew on a Sat. AM, I later took it to my regular guy and he said it was not the correct system. He fixed the leak by loosening some stuff and sliding the system forward, added some sort of greyish sealant to the joint.

The muffler bit under the passanger side is now off one of the rubber hangers and bangs around terribly and the S-shaped tail pipe is burning it's way throgh the plastic facia.
Any thoughts? The system looked like the same type, since it came prepacked with that S-shaped til pipe.

This was suposed to be a "no brainer" The question is, which of us has the lack of grey matter, me, for continuing to own a volvo (Sable wagon is looking nice at this point), the Sat AM crew for perhaps putting it in wrong or my auto-G.P. (admittedly not a volvo expert).
Thanks

Dr. Chip
Westchester County N.Y. '93, 945 NA, 114Kmiles

Problem diagnosed. Assembly error(s) Fixed for 99$. Thanks all.

I second Chris' opinion - exhuasts vary a good bit, and you can usually make them fit by jostling everything else around a bit. Starla is usually good quality stuff. A thorough going-over from head pipe to tailpipe can probably get everything centered adequately and sealed.
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Speed Racer, '83 240 R, '74 164 E, '93 940 OL1 (Manchester, CT)

I will tell you, exhaust hanging can be horribly screwed up. Most of the parts have some sort of adjustment possible before tightening up the system. For example, a poorly aligned S-pipe that wasn't re-adjusted when the system was moved around the second time, could very well be touching the plastic bumper skirt.

You might want to check with groton. But Starla systems typically have a good fit. This would be very unusual.
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chris herbst, near chicago

Thanks Chris, I am in the middle of a horrible grant writing crunch but will contact them soon.

Is it possible to have a reputable mechanic loosen jonts and realign etc? Or will they give the same schpiel? Wrong system, buy ours...
Chip

Having discovered it was the wrong part, the correct course of action would have been to return it, not try to kludge it into place. I have had great luck with Volvo OEM mufflers. Through www.borton.com, they are reasonably priced, fit perfectly, and last forever.

agreed, but the sequele of events precluded that (saturday repair, driving after, notice of leak etc). I guess I am stuck w/this. It is supposed to be OEM, I thought.
Perhaps I should contact Groton.
CA