It depends on how skilled you are with regard to the job. If you have a basic knowledge of how the muffler is attached and the tools to do it, it is within the realm of a DIY project. If not, it's worth the cost of having it done by a pro.
A hole in a muffler is from two causes. It has either rusted through or been damaged by something hitting it.
A bad muffler on a 96 civic could cause loud exhaust noise. The muffler could cause hard starting if it is stopped up.
It could if the insides of the muffler are restricting the flow of exhaust.
Answer It could be that you need a new muffler. After so long the baffling inside the muffler can burn out. Also make sure that the muffler is not cracked or that exhaust is not leaking before it gets into the muffler. At the gasket between the muffler and the engine. Hope ths helps.
Doing it yourself? Just the muffler? $50+/- Take it to a muffler shop where they'll replace the exhaust pipe, the tail pipe and the muffler with a "lifetime replacement", and it could get expensive.
A muffler most likely.
Yes.
It's probably a heat shield, to protect the passenger compartment floor or fuel tank (or whatever is near the muffler) from excessive heat from the muffler. You could remove it, but why bother?
the reason you here noise from your muffler are because less pressure from your engine is going fast.
Any leak in an exhaust system can allow lethal carbon monoxide gas to enter the passenger compartment and could send you to sleep while driving. It is definitely something to worry about and should be repaired ASAP.
A muffler is a device used in the exhaust system of a vehicle to reduce noise produced by the engine. In a sentence, you could say, "The mechanic replaced the old muffler with a new one to make the car quieter."
You could start by cutting off your muffler and replacing it with a piece of pipe that you can buy at AutoZone, if it's still not loud enough, replace your catalytic converters the same way as the mufflers, but depending on the year, be prepared to dump alot of fuel and check engine lights if you replace the cat's. Just getting rid of the muffler won't hurt it at all. If it's before 1996, you shouldn't have a problem what so ever with muffler or cat's.