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MONEY SAVING DIY EXHAUST REPAIR
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Jan 25, 2024
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View Video Transcript
0:00
In this video, I'm going to show you a method for exhaust system repair that has literally
0:19
saved me thousands of dollars over the years. This is a 2006 RAV4
0:26
It's got 286,000 kilometers on it. That's about 177,000 miles. So it's a high mileage vehicle, but it's got a condition, which is kind of interesting
0:38
And if you can fix it yourself, if you can fix this flaw yourself, you're really in for
0:42
saving a lot of money. And it's a particular weakness in exhaust systems all over the place that cannot usually
0:51
be fixed economically by a professional at a garage, but in a driveway with some tools
0:56
and some experience, you can do it. So this is not a particularly simple DIY fix
1:02
But if you can cut metal, if you can fit metal, and if you can weld metal, then like I said
1:07
you can save thousands this way. So let's go on underneath the vehicle. I'll show you the problem and I'll start explaining how I'm going to fix it
1:13
So more and more vehicles now have stainless steel exhaust systems, which are terrific
1:19
And that's what this is. Stainless steel doesn't necessarily mean it stays shiny and silver, but it just means
1:24
that it resists corrosion very well. The whole system everywhere, rock solid, right from front to back
1:33
So we don't want to replace this, but there is a weak spot where there's a leak. And I've seen this happen a number of times, and it's right up here
1:41
It's this flange here. You see, they needed to put a flange in there to connect the pipes at the front with the
1:47
pipes at the back. You couldn't get it all in place without having some sort of a joint here
1:54
And I don't know, the metal they've chosen, you know, for whatever reason, it kind of
1:59
blows out. You know, the gasket goes, and right now there's a leak all along here
2:03
It's sounding pretty loud. It's going to get louder. And there's no way you can patch this externally
2:08
I've tried. I've tried all kinds of things. I won't go into details, but it simply doesn't work
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Now, if you took this vehicle to a mechanic who was not in the business of fabricating
2:20
parts like we're going to be doing today, fabricating this fix, but rather just part
2:24
replacement, all they would be able to do is to take the whole exhaust system off and
2:29
replace the whole shebang, these back pipes, the front pipe, in order to fix this
2:35
The last time I brought a vehicle in, before I decided I was going to figure out how to
2:38
fix this myself, it was going to cost $2,500 in parts alone for the exhaust system
2:44
So there's big incentive to fix things yourself. So what we're going to do is we're going to slice this off
2:52
We're going to slice the flange right out. So we're going to have two pieces of pipe that come close together
3:00
They might be about this far apart by the time we finish the slicing
3:04
Now the challenge here is we can't just slip another new piece of pipe in there because
3:09
this isn't going to move back and forth. It's rigidly held, and the same with the pipe at the front
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So we've got this gap. We have to cover it, but we can't pull the pipe apart to slip a new piece in and close it
3:22
And besides, even if we could do that, we'd have to have some very tight-fitting joints
3:26
on that pipe in order to work. So the method I have here sidesteps the need for slipping a pipe between, and it actually
3:35
encapsulates the open area that we leave using some very inexpensive exhaust repair stuff
3:45
exhaust pipe stuff. So now we're going to get out from under here, and I'm going to show you what all this looks
3:50
like out in the open. So take a look at this. This is essentially what we're going to be doing to span that gap when I cut out the flange
4:00
This piece of pipe here is very close in size to the diameter of the vehicle itself
4:06
It's a little bit bigger, but it's close enough because what's going on here is quite adjustable
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So what I did was I got myself a chunk of pipe. This happens to be a three-inch exhaust pipe
4:21
It's bigger than I needed, but look what I've done here. I cut a length of it, about five and a half inches long, and then I sliced that pipe along
4:31
its length. Actually, I just followed this manufacturing line here. I used a power hacksaw, but you can use an angle grinder, anything you want
4:42
You basically just want to make the length of pipe you cut into two halves, and that's
4:47
what we've got going on here. So with a little bit of work with a rubber mallet, I've made this trough, this half
4:57
a little bit smaller so it fits inside the other half. Now that does two things
5:03
That makes this very adjustable. So depending on the size of the pipe, within reason of course, this is going to get smaller
5:11
or bigger to accommodate the pipe because we've got this overlap. There can be more or less overlap there
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It doesn't really matter how much overlap there is. And then the clamps, these U-clamps, U-bolt clamps, will pull everything together
5:27
So here's the procedure. One, we cut off the flange using a reciprocating saw, leaving a gap of about this much from
5:37
one pipe to the other. We slather the whole area with high temperature silicone
5:43
That's a great sealant. It's an excellent exhaust sealant actually, much better than muffler cement because the
5:51
high temperature silicone remains flexible all the time. And it can take the heat
5:55
It can take quite a bit of heat. So we slather the area with that silicone
6:00
We put on the two halves of the pipe. We tighten up these clamps
6:05
So draw it all together. And then as a final step, we run a weld bead along this joint and along this joint in order
6:15
to seal it. And maybe even a little bit past too, depending on where we put the clamps
6:20
That's the procedure in a nutshell. It works great. It lasts for years and it's even fairly easy to replace if it ever rusts out because unlike
6:29
the rest of the system, this is not stainless steel, so it will corrode
6:34
You can get five, six, eight years. I think the first vehicle I did was about eight years ago
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Still working perfectly. So time to go back underneath and we're going to bring a saw with us this time
6:46
So as I said, I've done this repair on a number of vehicles. This is the trickiest though, because I need to make the slice on both sides of this flange
6:55
and this frame is almost in the way. So I've got my little mini reciprocating saw here
7:03
I'm going to cut through the bolt and then I'm going to cut through the pipe
7:08
We're going to have to cut that pipe at a slight angle just because I can't get into
7:12
it square, but that's okay because it'll all come out in the end in the wash
7:18
So here we go. Yeah, it's through
7:42
So I've got the hard cut out of the way. As I said, it's difficult because this frame member is here
7:47
I'm going to make a similar cut here as close as I can to the weld bead because I want that
7:51
gap to be as short as possible. And then we'll take that flange out
7:55
Actually you're going to be able to see how bad it is. It's not just bad here, it's bad on the back too
8:02
Classic problem. Here's the flange all cut out. You know, this is that first cut I had to make at an angle because of the frame member
8:10
and then I could cut this one tight to the weld. But you see what happens here
8:14
I mean, this was, how was it positioned? It was positioned like this
8:19
So we got the biggest blowout here. That's because moisture builds up in here
8:24
Condensation builds up. It mixes with the carbon dioxide and it becomes quite acidic, carbolic acid
8:30
So that really ate out down here. That's where most of the noise was coming from
8:33
But we were blowing out up here too. It wouldn't be too long before it was going to really sound like a jalopy
8:41
But we got the bad stuff out. Now it's time to put the good stuff in
8:45
This is going to work out very well. So see, I'm just doing a little dry fit here before I get the high temperature silicone out
8:52
See, I've got one marked inner and this one marked outer. It fits together like this
9:01
And so that offers a certain amount of adjustability. I have to orient this way with the outer up top and the inner down here
9:12
because I need to be able to see these seams for welding when the time comes
9:18
Now, this of course, in its present state is not going to hold exhaust at all
9:23
But when we get the silicone on there and these muffler clamps pulling everything together super tight
9:33
it's going to seal up just fine. So now it's time to get some silicone in place and get these clamps tightened up
9:39
This is the stuff I use. It's high temperature gasket maker. It is silicone based, though you can tell by the smell
9:46
I've used other kinds. You know, to be honest, I think even regular silicone is quite heat resistant
9:52
It would probably work fine, too, but might as well go for this stuff
9:57
When I build a garage, I'm going to install a hoist so I don't have to lie on the ground anymore
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So lots of the high temperature silicone on each end of the pipe
10:15
I'm going to put the outer one on first. Now the inner one
10:40
There we go. Oh, goodness, look at the good. And as I said, the main thing is to orient this so that you can get at the seams for welding
10:54
because this alone is not sufficient. The silicone is fine. It seals it where it meets the other pipe, but it has nothing to offer as far as sealing the joint goes
11:14
I'm not going to tighten this up all the way just yet
11:39
In fact, I find these U-bolt clamps tighten up much nicer if you can get an impact wrench or some power tool
11:50
They seem to draw in tighter and better rather than the wrench tightening
12:09
Notice that squeezing out there? It's a really good seal there. I can't get the power wrench on that other one
12:16
I'm going to have to satisfy myself with the hand wrench. It'll just take a little while, but the result should be the same
12:40
So we're done. We've got the beads of weld here. I'm not going to bother
12:47
I may peel this off later when it gets a little bit harder, but it doesn't really matter the excess silicone
12:53
I'm going to let this cool for a while. As tempted as I am to start it up and show you right away how well this works, I want to leave it until this gets a little harder
13:02
It'd be a shame after all this work to blow some important silicone out somewhere
13:06
I don't think that's going to happen because it's so tight, but we'll let it cool and harden here for a couple of hours
13:13
I'm going to leave everything the way it is, and we'll come back and start it
13:17
And I hope we have a nice, quiet, lake-free repair. I think we will
13:21
Now's the moment of truth. The silicone isn't fully cured yet, but it's cured enough that we can test it
13:28
I'm just going to turn this baby on briefly and keep it at an idle and just look for any areas I might have missed
13:36
I think it's a pretty good repair. Hit the ignition, Robert. The easiest way to spot an exhaust leak is with your fingers
13:56
Everything feels really good here. All in all, money-saving success
#Vehicle Parts & Services
#Vehicle Repair & Maintenance