I was out in the car today, going up a steep hill, changed gear then the loudest pop noise ever. Cue lots and lots of black smoke and no power.

I pulled over and checked the engine bay knowing it had to be a loose or split pipe but I could not see anything, my heart sank, I was thinking its new turbo time (only on 86K), but luckily came across a garage whilst trying to make it home, ( i chanced it because I could still hear the turbo and it all sounded fine with no nasty mechanical noises) However the garage said we dont do diesels (what?!) but it will be your turbo thats died. I took this with a pinch of salt as I dont think they were really interested and I remembered I was near that Shark Performance place, so I hobbled along with the SMOG cloud in tow to see if he could shed any light on it. My thanks to Ben for taking the time out to look and figure out it was the pipe on the bottom of the SMIC that had popped off, he showed me the design of the pipe and it seemed a bit rubbish frankly. He put it back as best he could, I was only a few miles from my regular garage/home and made my way there okay and getting a new (£73!) pipe fitted tomorrow.

It there anything else that can be done to secure the pipe to stop it popping in future or has it just worn the connection due to movement/vibration?

Ben also found out my car had been remapped in the past (i thought it had, this Fabia VRS was a lot peppier than my last) although who by we do not know. I suppose that increased the risk of this occuring.

The new pipe should be ok, its just the locating dogs that wear down over time i'm afraid. I'm in the same boat at the moment and wishing I had never sold my FMIC

hmmm FMIC, must resist temptation to spend money on mods.

A BIG clip is what you want, You can buy heavy duty ones from Boat yards, Tractor & Truck parts shops. The clip you want is stainless, about 1/2" wide band and secured with a small bolt, not the jubilee worm drive screw thing. They are out there.

I think you mean Mikalor clamps, but that wont help with the standard pipework :(

All you need are 4 cable ties. One round each end of the pipe and SMIC fitting. Another two linking the other two together.

All you need are 4 cable ties. One round each end of the pipe and SMIC fitting. Another two linking the other two together.

Bodge job, but it works an absolute treat! tried and tested!

Bodge job, but it works an absolute treat! tried and tested!

A bit of a pikey job but not much choice given the design

A bit of a pikey job but not much choice given the design

Bloody cheap too!

Put a couple of new OE spring clips (one one each end) on at the same time as fitting the new pipe and it will last you ages again, the clips are just a few pence each.

Cheers will suggest that to the guy thats doing it for me, im dropping it off at 5 pm.

Will be tested Wednesday as im off to Mablethorpe to visit the parents, oh and now my exhaust is now black once again, time to get out to autosol.

Edited 22 June, 201016 yr by thebloyn

arrgh, got it all fitted and faults cleared now in mablethorpe visiting the parents and now the eml has popped on.

There is a solution that doesnt cost 73 quid!!!!

On both pipes that come off the smic you can drill 4 holes through from the part where the pipe clips in and secure it with big self tappers i did this on my first vrs and it never popped off again!!!!!

Cost = nothing

i have done the self tapper thing and it works a treat but i have decided to buy a samco replacement for the bottom hose £110 comes with better alloy ends

Well the new pipes doing its job fine, but after doing 160 odd miles to the east coast and back the engine light turned out to be an intermittent fault with the EGR valve.

Its been cleared and has not come back for now but should it re-occur is it best to replace or perform this EGR delete/bypass ive heard a little about?