Broken exhaust

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I’ve been driving this car to and from work for a couple weeks now and it’s pretty loud. The pipe about a foot and some change upstream the muffler is broken and it’s been this way for a while now.

It’s not a huge deal but I’m wondering besides welding, what would be the better way to “fix” this. It’s in a very easy to access location and it’ll give me something productive to do this weekend. I checked AutoZone, O’Reilly’s and advanced auto here in town and they are all out of stock of those 2-1/4" flat band clamps. Looking at the break I’m wondering how easy those bits would be to knock off. The pipe on the right is obviously flared out, does the left go inside the right or is/was it just a welded butt connection?

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2

You can’t weld rust.

And from what I can see, those components need to be replaced.

Tester

3 Likes
3

Car is kind of a bucket and was looking to pench pennies. There’s quite a few things that should be replaced tbh, I recently spared little expense in addressing some of the more important ones.

4

It doesn’t matter the condition of the car, when exhaust components get this rusty they need to be replaced.

You can already see where someone has created gob welds trying to weld on the rust.

Maybe try a band clamp if there’s enough room for a temporary fix?

41ZinTabRoL.AC

But then, you’ll need to grind the gob welds off for that to work.

Tester

1 Like
5

Take it to a muffler shop.

They have the cure for what ails ya.

3 Likes
6

Just break off the weld nodules with a wrench. They are all rust now anyway. Also, won’t the rusted tailpipe collapse when he cinches up the clamp?

1 Like
7

Thanks, I’ll be trying that. If it does crush the pipe it needed to be replaced anyway like you guys say. If it comes to that I’ll take it to the muffler shop and have them address it unless it’s more than a couple hundred in which case I’ll just live with it.

8

A break in your exhaust pipe could result in you NOT living, unfortunately. Even if you are short on cash, this is not the type of repair that you can afford to avoid.

6 Likes
9

Suggest to price out an aftermarket replacement part before attempting a repair. With luck the part may be readily available & not overly expensive, making this an easy decision. As part of this job, suggest to also make sure all the exhaust hangers are in place and in good working order.

BTW, an exhaust leak even in that location could cause an air/fuel mixture problem. Do you have any indications of an overly rich mixture? Spark plugs have a lot of carbon on the electrodes, etc?

10

I changed the plugs last year after replacing a dead coil that caused a misfire. I don’t recall any indications on the plugs to my memory.

There is however black deposits on the pipe where the break is, doesn’t seem too noticeable in the picture.

11

I’ve been running with the windows down if that’s what you’re implying because the AC doesn’t blow cold anyhow. I could see how this would be a problem later this year though.