Broken exhaust pipe any suggestions?

Just got done servicing my 2002 jetta when I heard some funny noises upon start up. With the car in the air I inspected my exhaust and found that right were the converter begins (coming from the engine working your way down) it is rusted around the weld and completely cracked and separated all the way around. Does anyone have any ideas on who besides vw makes this? And how much it will cost. I did some searching ,but came up with nothing. I would prefer to stay stock and replace everthing but the manifold and turbo. (down pipe and muffler assembly) Any ideas will be helpfull. Thank you

The pipe can be rewelded easily. If you want to replace it, lurkermike is building downpipe replacements.

This seems to be a common weak point. I just has my exhaust break at the weld (2002 Jetta) just after the converter....replaced approx. two feet of pipe and had it welded to the rear of the converter. $50 at a mom & pop shop.

I thought about welding the pipe but the rot made the metal around the gap paper thin. How can I get in touch with lurker mike?

I put an cheap muffler adaptor on my NB about 16 months ago and it is still looking good. Cost about $2. I think it was 2 3/8 ID to 2 1/4 OD or somthing like that. It fit over the pipe tight(had to bang it on) then i just slid the other end into the cat. then i brazed it in a couple of spots to hold it together.

Well seems like http://www.germanautoparts.com has the cheapest prices on a oem stock exhaust. $475. for the downpipe and catalyst assembly,and $185. for the muffler assembly. They also carry 2 1/2" boro and flowmaster systems.

I had the exhaust welded yesterday by my mechanic. He loosend the exhaust clamps,let the pipes hang down a little (for room) grinded the converter surface and pushed a small piece of pipe into the converter a little smaller then the converter opening. He did the same thing to the other side of the pipe and welded the seams all the way around. The car sounds just like stock again. His welds are flawless and will probally outlast the rest of the 6 year old exhaust. If I figure out how to download the pictures of before and after off my phone I will post them.

Wife's NB had similar problem but not broken all the way through. Had a local shop reweld and overlay with additional piece of pipe, $40 fix. Worked great until car was totalled. JOHN

Mig welders can help quite a bit on thin metal. I use it all the time.

Typical piss poor VW quality...whatever happened to stainless Leistritz exhausts installed at factory

Great point, stainless is the way to go. Brake lines, fuel lines, and exhaust would be the minimum. Sure it would cost a bit more but it would probally last the life of the car.

I discovered the same problem on my '01 / 88k golf this past weekend, perhaps from sitting in a pile of snow this winter. Wanted to share my temporary (?) fix in case it helps somebody else.

I read on another forum about getting the pipe rewelded (good picture of the problem there too), but I didn't have time to deal with that this weekend.

So I went to autozone and applied a combination of things:
- Tiger Patch Exhaust Repair Tape - supposed to get activated by the heat of your exhaust, seal up and become permanent
- Tail Pipe Repair Kit - really just a glorified steel clamp with some ceramic fiber gasket that I didn't use
- 3 hose clamps
- some sheet aluminum

Ironically, the Tiger Tape says that for "hot areas" (like right after the cat) you should put some aluminum under the tape. Also, the tape clearly is designed to seal a hole, not an entire pipe separation. So I wrapped a 1" strip of sheet aluminum around the gap, wrapped the tape around that, to seal it up, and then clamped the hell out of that patch with the exhaust repair kit and hose clamps to hold things mechanically. Total cost was about $20, including the soda my friend made me buy him at autozone.

Exhaust sounds like it used to, and it has held up so far after ~50 miles with lots of NYC potholes. Better than just a soda can anyway. I guess if/when it fails I'll have someone grind off the "permanent" tiger tape and weld it up.

Before:



After:




The clamp on the pipe is there to hopefully keep things in place. Since the pipe and the cat are each on their own separate rubber isolation mount, I'm concerned about the possibility of the whole thing vibrating apart. It was applied over some of the tiger tape, so perhaps the hose clamp will become "part" of the pipe


Adam

Adam - you are probably not that far from me. I have the original downpipe and cat from my 04 sitting in the garage. I believe all you'd need to do is plug the threaded hole for the O2 sensor to use it on an ALH. I was saving it for the beetle, but I'm going to put the 2.5" one on it when I get the new 3" on mine. $100 if you want to pick it up?

Adam, that's a pretty nice fix for the price, I think it will last you a while. I did mine from junk I had laying around and it wasnt half as good as yours and it lasted 2 years.

simbolo said:

I did mine from junk I had laying around

Click to expand...

What is that? Hose-clamps and what else?

BTW - How do you get pics uploaded to TDI club. I read the FAQ, but my posting rules say I may not post attachments. Am I not veteran enough?

aberson said:

What is that? Hose-clamps and what else?

Click to expand...

well its like a layer cake, first you start with aluminum foil wrapped around the joint about 10 times, then some sheet metal on top and bottom followed by hose clamps, then wrapped in tiger patch and topped off with some zip ties...

aberson said:

BTW - How do you get pics uploaded to TDI club. I read the FAQ, but my posting rules say I may not post attachments. Am I not veteran enough?

Click to expand...

not sure, I just click on photos, upload and pop the link right in the post using the img tags

did you check out http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=207484

simbolo said:

not sure, I just click on photos, upload and pop the link right in the post using the img tags

did you check out http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=207484

Click to expand...

thanks, that looks like it will work. That faq is different than the other faq I found about how to upload attachments.