Quick Question on Exhaust Leak

[pierow]

I've had an exhaust rattle for a couple of weeks now that finally turned into a roar over the weekend. I climbed under the car to figure out what was wrong and discovered that the pipe connecting the catalytic converter to the muffle is disconnected. My thought was to loosen the bolt on the clamp, shove the pipe back in and tighten the bolt back. I'm going to give it a try this weekend when I can get the car up on ramps and get a little better access. Anyone have any tips or thoughts?

Cheers!

[ericinboca]

I've had an exhaust rattle for a couple of weeks now that finally turned into a roar over the weekend. I climbed under the car to figure out what was wrong and discovered that the pipe connecting the catalytic converter to the muffle is disconnected. My thought was to loosen the bolt on the clamp, shove the pipe back in and tighten the bolt back. I'm going to give it a try this weekend when I can get the car up on ramps and get a little better access. Anyone have any tips or thoughts?

Cheers!

That's a fun job!! (Note sracasm)

No, just kidding - it is not too bad - can be a little frustrating, but take your time, you will get it.

Be sure the car is cold. (This happened to me at the track once - and like an idiot, I tried to fix while still hot. I still have burn scars on both hands.)

Spray the nuts on the coupling with a penetrating oil, (night before if you can and then again day off) and go ahead and spray a bit where the tube fits into the coupling.

I think you are talking about the U shaped pipe? If so, you will probably have to loosen the coupling on the other end too. Spray it with penetrating oil too, and work it to try and get it looser. It will be a tight fit by design, but it should rotate some.

The receiving part on the muffler is split to allow some expansion. You want to get the end of the U pipe in pretty far - about an inch if you can before you tighten the coupling back down, and be sure the coupling is in far enough on the receiving part to cover this split. This is why you might need to loosen the other coupling some - to give you more pipe to move around.

It all fits correctly, but everything has to be where it is supposed to be - the muffler has to be in the middle; the "U"s have to be inserted the correct depth on both the muffler and the mid pipes - see what I mean? It gets frustrating if things are way out of whack, and you have to take it all apart and put it back together.

Whatever you do, resist the urge to hit it with a hammer. I've embarrassed to say I made that mistake too. You can break a weld seam on the cats on the header.

[pierow]

Whatever you do, resist the urge to hit it with a hammer. I've embarrassed to say I made that mistake too. You can break a weld seam on the cats on the header.

LOL - I'm actually glad that you specifically pointed that out. Just knowing the way my brain works, I'm certain that the mallet would have come into play otherwise. :D

Thanks for the reply!