Our 1999 Camry has gotten very loud. It was warm (42F) and dry enough yesterday to run the car up and ramps and look for the problem. It seems to have grown a hole in the mesh covered, flexible exhaust pipe section forward of the Catalytic converter. Regretably, this section and the converter are a single unit.
If I take it to a shop, it looks like $400-600 depending on how many pieces the downstream O2 sensor comes out in and how much grief all those rusted nuts turn out to be. I can do it myself for half that. But I don’t have a heated place to work on the car and I’m not going to spend a day slithering around under it until Spring comes in maybe 8-10 weeks.
Does anyone know a cute trick for plugging a hole in a flexible exhaust hose covered with metal mesh? Not looking for a permanent repair. Just something good for a couple of months.
A muffler repair shop can cut out the flex pipe and weld a new flex pipe in for about $200, parts and labor.