well, i finally broke down and bought a new muffler today. what was wrong with the old one? well…i) most of it was rusted; ii) parts both internal and external had flaked off (meaning that it was not as good as a sound damper and was likely to break off again); iii) it was dented in a couple places (backing into the rock a couple days ago probably didn’t help); and iv) one of the brackets holding the muffler to the car was coming loose. the new one cost $40, and was actually made by the mechanic…he has a stock of about 30 different mufflers of all shapes and sizes that he’s made. we’ll see how long before my exhaust breaks again.