How to fix this exhaust...

It looks like the seam just opened up. I'd take it to a muffler shop and ask them to just reweld the seam. If the rest of the material is so bad, that it can't be weleded, isn't it likely that a lot of the exhaust system is close to failure as well? The biggist concern I would have is whether or not you can find a shop experienced in welding stainless steel. It might be worth talking to the service writer at your local Lexus dealer. Is the system combletely welded from the front catalytic convertors to the rear, or is there another bolted joint behind the Y-pipe? You possibly could remove the Y-pipe and take to an experienced welder. The Lexus catalog

) lists a seperate pipe for the front pipe, you it is possible you could purchase that and have it welded in. The cost is shown as $334 (see ).

Isn't that just a heat shield, rather than a pressurized seal?

Good price on the part there - thanks. Cheap compared to the other lexus models!

Isn't that just a heat shield?

Thanks for the link - quite cheap compared to the other lexus models!

"C. E. White" wrote

But when you brighten up the picture a bunch, it looks like there's an actual hole in the rusted inner pipe, and opening the heat shield's seam just lets you see it....

Dean wrote in news:1177341730.157672.227980 @q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

These appear to be factory exhaust parts, still installed on the car. The silvery-colored heat shields are still present, which is how I know it's still factory.

You have suffered a rust-through of the exhaust pipe due to internal moisture. When this happens, it is a certainty that the rest of the system is very close to being perforated as well.

It appears it took eleven years for your factory exhaust to hole itself. Not bad at all.

What to do? All that is practical is to replace stuff. You can do this one of two ways:

1) Cheap out, getting Monkeys-R-Us (The Cheap Exhaust Specialists) to cut out and replace the worst bits, rip off the heat shields, and install clamps, simian-quality welding and Chinese-quality steel. Repeat every six to twelve months ad infinitum to have the next holey bit replaced. 2) Bite the bullet and have the Toyota dealer install one-piece, top- quality factory parts (with heat shields) to replace the old one-piece, top-quality factory parts (with heat shields) that lasted eleven years. Now forget about it for another eleven years.

Guess what my choice would be, and guess how I (a non-professional) might arrive at such a decision?

Option 3) Install a high quality aftermarket stainless steel performance exhaust system. As I understand it, there are a number of good manufacturers (borla, magnaflow, bassani, etc). These systems should be far less expensive than the factory replacement parts retail-to-retail.

I'll bet that once you get those shiny stainless heat shields off, you'll find a very, very rotted exhaust system underneath. The portion of the actual pipe that is visible looks HORRIBLE! If that's the case then I wouldn't patch, I'd replace. Before any decision is made you need to look at more of the system than what can be seen through that gap in the heat shields.

I disagree, that kind of failure is appalling in this day and age. Isn't Lexus supposed to be flawless, after all? Everyone else has been using fully stainless exhaust for a LONG time. The original 240,000 mile and

17 year exhaust system on my wife's "inferior" American car doesn't have the slightest blemish on it, from exhaust manifolds to exhaust tips.

Steve wrote in news:h8ydnc9Ba-EpzrPbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@texas.net:

Toyota's now using "semi-stainless". I don't know if they were using that in '96.

Then you sure don't live where I do. Winter does incredible damage to exhausts. The OP appears to be in the Rust Belt (possibly NJ).

innews:h8ydnc9Ba-EpzrPbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@texas.net:

Yes, I am in NJ!

We had a flas flood the other day, and drove through maybe 6-10" of water for a few yards, maybe the shock was too much for the system and that propogated the hole. Its certainly not SS, from the rust it looks like regular steel.

I'm going to poke around and maybe patch it up this weekend.

Thanks all for the help

Dean

Dean wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@r30g2000prh.googlegroups.com:

Even semi-stainless won't rust like that.

Be prepared to keep adding patches from time to time. Your whole system is near the rust-through point. You'll get tired of the work after a while.

I highly recommend a complete replacement from the dealer.

I should send you a picture of the stainless exhaust system on my '97 mustang after 10 years and having been driven in 8 chicago winters. Sure the part that shows that is made of the higher grade stuff is pretty as the day it left the factory. The rest however is ugly. The joints on the muffler side of the cat section/muffler section are going. The mufflers are also on their way out.