Is your car’s exhaust pipe broken/leaking, and you want to fix it yourself? Are you out of budget or don’t want to get in the trouble of welding the Pipe for fixing it? If so, there’s always more and better ways to perform a task. Hence, you don’t have to change the tubes, exhaust, and mufflers only to fix an exhaust pipe.
Now evaluating the fixing demands of the exhaust pipe and the right DIY method, both depend upon the area where the Pipe is damaged. If it’s small or limited, you may use other methods to fix the Pipe. Besides, saving your car from an incompetent fuel system and spending too much on the maintenance to avoid the welding process isn’t the only way out. Just by using the right DIY methods, you can save the expense of hiring a welder, allowing you to fix your car on your own quickly.
So, are you ready to learn some DIY methods? Well then, let’s go and discover them below in detail.
Before You Start Fix Exhaust Pipe without Welding:
Before you start learning the different methods of fixing the exhaust pipe to avoid welding, it’s essential that you first consider some critical primary aspects. This mainly includes the understanding of where the Pipe or broke or leaking from, plugging the tail, and gathering the right tools. For a clearer view, let’s discuss these aspects below.
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Evaluating the Leaks:
Firstly and foremost, you need to detect the exhaust pipe leaks to understand where it needs fixing. You can do this by simply listening to where the sound is coming from. You need to listen to the sound and inspect its level for about 20 minutes or more (when the car is idling). Aloes, while you are checking the sound to find any change in the sound (from where the Pipe is broken), make sure that you have someone to intermittent reverse the engine. This would help you in better inspecting the sound.
Additionally, you can also detect holes (leaks) of the exhaust pipe when it would discharge the air. For this, you keep your palms at close contact with the Pipe. However, when you’re moving your palm, make sure to avoid the hot surfaces of the exhaust.
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Plugging the Tail:
Now to keep track of the holes in the Pipe and manage to fix them properly, you need to lug the tail. For this, you need a gloves pair and a rag (wet) for plugging the tail. Next, start the car on ‘Park mode’ while asking someone to raise the car’s acceleration. As a result, it would increase the pressure and make it fume from inside through any of the Pipe’s holes/leaks.
Another option for this task is to use a blower and making it blow opposite in terms of direction, inside the exhaust pipe. This would also make the holes/leaks more clear.
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Get the Kit:
Lastly, and most importantly, before you start fixing the exhaust pipe, you need the exhaust kit to make sure you’re ready. This kit can be bought from any local auto store – consisting of; epoxy bonds for the exhaust, spacer pipes, adapters, tapes, sandpaper, expander tool for the Pipe, muffler clamps, rust converter, and U-bolts.
Now when you pick the kit, make sure that it has all these essential tools. Also, it is essential to have the tight dimensions of the adapters in the exhaust kit. So don’t forget to look into that too.
Steps for Repairing the Exhaust Pipe without Welding:
- Sealing the Leak
- Changing the gasket
- Changing the Exhaust clamps
Leak Sealing:
For starters, you can fix the Pipe by closing the holes with specials sealants. For this, a high-quality aluminum patch present in the repair kit would do the work with its amazing adhesive strength.
Now start by cleaning the surface by using a thin or wired brush. This will help you scrape the spots of rust, mud, or any other dirt particles. Next, use Acetone on the spots that you cleaned and then scrub them using sandpaper. After this, close all the cracks on the Pipe by sealing them with an epoxy bond while squeezing this epoxy from the sides. Before you apply this epoxy bond, make sure it has been thoroughly mixed for a better outcome. While you do this, place an aluminum patch on the Pipe’s putty. Now while applying this seal, use any material made of plastic or, otherwise, a unique applicator to dab the proxy bond on the Pipe’s leak.
Next, apply the epoxy bond’s new layer on the Pipe for adding a lot more resistance to the high-pressure fumes of the Pipe, which is coming from its tailpipe. Afterward, wrap the tube area with an exhaust tape; while ensuring that you are covering the video according to the right method. For this, you need to understand what type of tape you are using here. This may include the recordings that require warming the exhaust tube before it’s application. Whereas, other tapes variety require getting wet before application. This helps these tapes to stick on the Pipe firmly.
Changing the Gasket:
This also a highly significant step to consider to fix the exhaust pipe. When the Pipe has leakages, the gaskets degrade while causing the exhausts joint’s rusty parts to require being replaced. However, this can be a challenging process as you can’t easily change both the bolts and screws.
Therefore, before you loosen these bolts/screws, make sure to analyze if they can be removed with more pressure or oiling is needed. If they don’t reduce by putting in some strength, use oil to allow grease for adding enough penetration for these bolts and screws to loosen smoothly.
Changing the Exhaust Clamps:
Lastly, but most importantly, analyzing the exhaust clamps is also a necessity when you fix an exhaust pipe leakage. This is mainly because most of the time, leaks arrive from the exhaust clamp’s broken sections. Now to analyze and smoothly replace this, drop the car exhaust system, and diagnose the fractured part’s condition and how much it is damaged.
Once you find the broken section, you will need to arrange special tools for clamping the resonator. Also, you will need a tubing cutter for removing the damaged part from the exhaust system. Additionally, before you fit the adapters, make sure these are the right fit to join the ends (both) of the tube firmly. Hence, it’s highly reliable to take measurements with useful tools like Vernier caliper, to ensure the right measures are taken. Once you have taken the measurements, look for the expander tool and use it for aligning both the diameters on the sides of the tube, and then place the adapter of the exhaust pipe to fill in the gaps of the tube.
Also, clamp both the old Pipe’s ends with the adapter by securing the adapter with hose clamps. This would keep the adapter secured in its place. However, make sure you have a special wrench or a screwdriver to fit the hose clamp finely with a tight seal. But when you do tighten the seal, don’t put too much pressure on the clamps (of the exhaust). Once you’re done replacing, it’s time you inspect the leak and analyze whether it has been fixed or not.
Conclusion:
Now fixing a car exhaust pipe might be a little too time-taking or hectic when you are using other methods instead of welding. Even then, you can be sure that you get a fine and highly reliable exhaust pipe fixing outcome, even without welding.
All you need to do is make sure that you follow each step for fixing the Pipe carefully since each of them helps to recover the Pipe altogether. So once you’ve done that, you can inspect one last time and be sure that there are n broken areas/leakages in the Pipe anymore.