I just need to check something here. I was at some lights tonight and when I pulled off I heard the nasty sound of my exhaust system snapping somewhere under my butt. Drove it home and it was nastily loud and had to suffer the embarrasment of parking it in my quiet residential street.

Thing is, I need the car for work at 8am tomorrow. I checked underneath and sure enough, near the front of the assembly and pretty much right under where I would be sitting, there's a slightly bulbous section before it curves upwards towards the engine proper. At the rear-end of this bulbous section, just where it changes into the narrower straight run towards the back-box is where it has snapped.

Is the car safe to drive? Otherwise I have literally no way of getting to work as the buses don't go that early and I wouldn't trust them to get me there in time even if they did an early run.

I can suffer the indignity of an overly farty car until it is fixed, just want to make sure I'm not going to do more damage or potentially kill myself if I use it.

Cheers in advance. :(

Edited 30 October, 200916 yr by Nadz1lla

Just took a pic in case it helps:

I would temporarily support the broken exhaust with some sort of strap [that won't melt] until it's been repaired properly...you don't want it digging into the road if it drops further as that would be dangerous. Also bear in mind the possibility of fumes entering the cabin so leave a window open while driving.

Cheers! Someone mentioned gaffer tape earlier but surely that would just melt, heh. I'll see if there's something I can fashion a brace from, although my resources are thin to zero and I have 7 hours to work some magic before I have to leave at 8am. :/

Apart from the potential danger of it dropping further and fumes, there's no danger of any further damage to the car itself is there? I'm sorry, I'm not massively technically minded where cars are concerned, heh.

the bulbous bit is the catalytic converter. thats the business end of the exhaust, which cleans up the fumes produced in the engine before its fed down the pipe and out the rear. so to be fair, the fumes that come out are as clean as theyll get. rest of the exhaust just quietens the noise down. the part where it has snapped could be welded, ive tried many temp fixes on this sort of break over the years with tin cans and hose clips etc, but they rarely last more than a few dozen miles. sleeves can be bought from exhaust suppliers which can butcher it back together more permanently, if funds are an issue, but again, arent long term solutions.

Bottom line, stop it hitting the road and get it put back together or replaced soon as!

:)Just to add to the last [correct] post by wilse 78....the only damage you might occur as a result is extra strain on the exhaust mountings until repaired properly. You won't cause major mechanical disasters to the engine or anything.

Okay that's great, thanks again guys! It's only my second day in this job after a recession-induced 5 month unemployment break, so I don't really want to be causing any hassle just yet, heh. I can't stand another day unemployed so if there was a way to graft wings to myself so I could get there I would!

unfotunately that looks as though you cant even get a sleeve on there to clamp it together becuase of the shape of the catalyst. it will be nearly impossible to weld that too

I just noticed that too...looks like I'm going to have to pay a lot of money in the coming week. I don't know a lot, as I mentioned before, but I do know a cat is the expensive part of the system.

I'm screwed. :/

The car is still under some kind of 3 month / 3000 mile guarantee thingy, I'm hoping there will be a very slim chance it might be covered by that. The part behind the cat seems to be newer than the rest of the system, so it's obviously been replaced before at least once, I'm wondering if any work previously done has further weakened this (seemingly already corroded) part of the system if it's been roughly manhandled.

I'll try and wangle something at the garage, heh.

:)Sleeve it internally, that'll weld up OK like that IMO though obviously not as good as a new one.

I'll suggest it, thanks! It will at least buy me some time to save up for a proper cat replacement, it's obvious this one's on the way out by the level of general corrosion all over the darn thing.

My cat looks worse than that in terms of corrosion. Still passes the MOT though and it's the original 15 year old 130k+ miles one (so I am told)

I was suprised to see how much a new cat is for a felly.

They can be had pretty cheap (as low as £55) on ebay:

felicia cat, Vehicle Parts Accessories, Books, Comics Magazines, Felicia items at low prices on eBay.co.uk

Have a look through there. Didn't know if yours was a 1.3 or 1.6 or derv so couldn't directly link. Shouldn't cost the earth and the cat is easy to change as it's just bolted to the rest of the exhaust.

You will also need a fitting kit which consists of new bolts and tension springs and a gasket.

Phil

As Phil says, they're not a lot of money, and they're dead easy to replace - 10 minutes and 5 bolts. One thing I learnt many years ago is that you spend more time faffing about welding exhausts up and so on than it takes to earn the money to replace the damn things with new - unless you have a bespoke system in mind, replacing the parts is the best route. Plus you may get a few quid back for your old cat from a scrap dealer - I've had £10 for one before.

If it's a diesel, it doesn't need a cat for the MOT anyway, so save some weight and back pressure by fitting a straight pipe!

It's a petrol 1.3, wasn't sure it made a difference. will do some trudging around on Ebay, but I need to find out from the garage what my 3 month guarantee entails, as it's not even been 2 months since I bought it from them yet. I may be able to wangle the price of a new one down to a reasonable amount, as I am told that cats from scrap yards / ebay can sometimes be a little hit and miss.

What is the condition of the centre/backbox

eBay ones haven't been a problem for me (fitted several to various cars), and a locally-sourced one for a Felicia was fitted in a hurry for around £90, and worked fine for a while on the rally car. Until the insides broke up, as you can imagine; not the fault of the cat, IMO.

What is the condition of the centre/backbox

The mid section has been replaced fairly recently I would imagine, there's an unmistakeable shiny new bit clamped and welded in the middle. Back box looks in fairly good nick and I believe it's still the original.

whereabouts are you?? maybe somebody local to you might know of one kicking about or have a spare one

Plus you may get a few quid back for your old cat from a scrap dealer - I've had £10 for one before.

Yep people used to go under cars and nick them. Guess current market value would be quite poor though.

whereabouts are you?? maybe somebody local to you might know of one kicking about or have a spare one

I'm in Exeter, but I think it's all been sorted out. My Dad called the garage today and I think he managed to sort some kind of deal out. I think it's guilt, he convinced me to buy from a second hand dealer ages ago and was adamant they wouldn't screw me. They did, the car may as well have just been a write-off. Ever since I think he's been trying to make up for it and he's been on this garage's butt to try and squeeze it in under the 3 month guarantee.