Effective Exhaust Repairs

[chadr]

Firstly, apologies for posting this in the Lounge, however as it's a generic question, I thought I might get a better response here......

The exhaust on my Colorado 3.4 V6 has developed a hole/crack in the "Y" section where the OEM manifolds from each bank meet and join (before the CAT, I have a full SS system from there on). It has started to get a little bit noisy and to be honest probably annoys me, more than anyone else and would still easily pass MOT etc.

I know that ideally I should probably take the whole thing off and have it repaired off the truck. However I'm not sure I want to have the truck off the road for a couple of days plus the (potential?) expense at the moment.

So I was wondering about the various "exhaust repair kits" available on the market and their effectiveness.....has anyone had any experience with any of these kits?

I'd like something that would patch it up for around 3-6 months, until I can sort out a more permanent fix, rather than something that requires tinkering or adjusting every few of weeks.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Doodle]

If it's before the cat, then there's a fair chance it's letting air and giving your lambda sensor a dodgy reading. Has it passed an MoT in this condition yet?

 

[chadr]

Yes, it passed the MOT a couple of months ago when the tester actually pointed it out - though I already knew it existed. The emissions tests were very good - i.e very low.

P.S. There has been no change in the overall MPG over the last few years either, since or before this hole/crack developed - if that is anything to go by.
At the moment, the main issue (to me) is the noise, plus I don't want to let it get larger and a state where it's not repairable.

 

[Doodle]

Can't be too bad then. Guessing there's no chance of a judiciously aimed MIG welder getting at it in situ?

 

[chadr]

Can't be too bad then......

Well if I block the tailpipe by holding a rag over it, it takes a quite while to build up pressure and I can hear most of it leaking out the front!!

....guessing there's no chance of a judiciously aimed MIG welder getting at it in situ?

Not according to the guy at the MoT Garage - he was the one that suggested it would need removing to weld.

There seems to be so many products on the market - exhaust repair bandages, tape, glue, liquid metal etc. I have no idea which are good and which are bad.

 

[joinerman]

I did a repair job on mine by getting a couple of baked bean cans ( stop laughing ) & cut the rims off the top & bottom then cut down the cans, wrapped both around the pipe & twisted some thin wire round both ends, then wrapped one of those gum gum bandages around everything followed by two large jubilee clips, it outlasted the flexi bit on the downpipe, must have been a couple of years,

 

[joinerman]

Sorry got that the wrong way round, bandage FIRST then cans & jumbly clips

 

[Philip A]

has developed a hole/crack in the "Y" section where the OEM manifolds from each bank meet and join (before the CAT, I have a full SS system from there on). It has started to get a little bit noisy and to be honest probably annoys me, more than anyone else

Had a girlfriend like that...

 

[chadr]

Sorry got that the wrong way round, bandage FIRST then cans & jumbly clips

Thanks JM, I might have to resort to something similar......I'll take a better look this weekend and hopefully post some pictures.

 

[chadr]

Had a girlfriend like that...