Uh oh. Sailor, don’t you know better than to question anything Anthracite says?
Why not? I’m wrong an awful lot of the time, thus sometimes I need smart people to set me straight.
Or were you being sarcastic?
Of course you should always encourage caution about buying new stuff and be reckless with your life.
CO is not something you can manage because its not something you can detect.
To be most correct, I think it’s best to say you can detect it, you just cannot sense it with your 5 built-in senses.
My guess is that Lemur thinks that you are well-informed, especially on technical subjects, and that you are able to back up your statements with appropriate cites when challenged. For what it’s worth, I agree.
More generally, if a mechanical engineer (especially one who specializes in combustion of hydrocarbons) makes an assertion about the dangers of a poorly-maintained exhaust system, it makes sense to accept that assertion, unless you are damn sure she’s wrong, and can back up your disagreement with cites.
It’s amazing how often someone who is an actual, credentialed professional or specialist on this board gets challenged when he or she is kind enough to take the time to share his/her knowledge. Sure, debate is healthy, but unless you know what you’re talking about, the cause of eradicating ignorance isn’t advanced by random opinions, supported by nothing, which contradict an expert in her field.
I simply don’t get the point of the majority of you.
because:
First of all, think about it. You are driving down the street & the car in front of you is spraying gases all over your face & lungs, which you are breathing…maybe its the car infront of you? Shut the windows!
Random - wow, thanks! (blush)
Shucks, I ain’t all that good. I just try nowadays to limit my participation to threads where I can contribute something based on personal experience or my training in energy issues. So it looks like I’m smart, when I’m probably not. 
FWIW, sailor is a really sharp guy in a great many areas, and a recognized technical expert as well. And I respect his knowledge and opinions. We just have differences of opinions on some issues is all.
Well, that depends handy. Hopefully, if the catalyst is in some sort of working order, there is not nearly as much CO emitted from the back end as enters the catalyst. The dangerous exhaust leaks are the ones in front of the catalyst, both due to their location and the greater concentration of CO.
When I’ve had cars with exhaust leaks, I’ve known it. Just start it and let it idle for a bit in place with the fan on, and see if you smell exhaust in the air vents. (and so help me, don’t anyone post “but…CO doesn’t smell!” - I know that already)
The point is, if typically when you are driving or riding in the car you feel dizzy and get headaches, and these go away after leaving the vicinity of the car, well, that tells me it might be a good chance of CO poisoning. And if, as in the OP, they know the muffler is bad, well, it’s likely other parts of the exhaust system are cracked, corroded, or loose as well.
To respond to sailor’s last post - it depends on the extremes. My old Subaru had an exhaust leak so bad you could not turn the fan on at all - even in the dead of Winter, because it would draw exhaust into the car. And make me feel sick within a couple miles. The only option was to use inside air only, but you could still smell exhaust after driving it for a while. I was in college then, and the exhaust repair was too much, although I did fight a holding action with welding rod and muffler tape until there was more weld and tape than catalyst and pipe left. I guess to me $200 is not that much if one is feeling sick every time they are in the car, regardless of any long-term effects or damage.
You were all able to do what I could not. After reading the wisdom contained within this thread, my friend coughed up $200.00 today and got her exhaust system repaired.
On a personal note I also thank you as I hitch many rides with her and the prospect of being trapped in Seattle traffic with a headache and nausea was not a pleasant one.
May this thread help to eradicate "Auto"erotic asphyxiation worldwide!!!
I hate to resurrect an exhausted thread but I have been busy lately (and will be even more busy, so I will probably not be around much).
tevya, your example does not seem entirely convincing. “someone said that’s what happened” does not carry as much weight as “the coroner’s report said that’s what happened”. In any case, even if it was the case, it seems quite rare. How many people die from faulty exhausts every year? How many hit by lightning?
Anthracite knows well how much I respect her opinions as we have both participated in other threads. In this case we do not even really disagree as we both agree breathing CO is not good for you, it is just a matter of how bad and risky. But even if there was a disagreement, she is quite capable of speaking for herself in a very articulate manner.
In any case, I guess this is water under the bridge now…