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