truck's been getting louder and i found the culprit:



what would you do about this leak? i've replaced that gasket once before and it didn't do much. it seems to just be falling apart. the flanges are rusting away slowly but surely.

should i just pump a boatload of exhaust leak sealer goop into it and hope for the best? i need to fab up a whole new exhaust, or at least replace those rusty mangled flanges, but with the 3.4 on the way soon it seems wasteful to do it now only to have to redo it in a few months.

this flange is between the downpipe and the cat. the O2 bung is to your left, on the pipe (that bung is rusty as hell, too).

 

yeah, either that or weld it. simple solution. if it doesnt work, go from there.

 

welding it'll be a hassle cause it's up on top of the pipe. i doubt i'd be able to fit the mig gun in there in any sort of angle good enough to weld with.

i could unbolt the cat and the downpipe and weld them together but taking the bolts out of the other end of the cat sounds like a recipe for more leaks.

muffler goop it is

 

cut the flange off and weld in a new pipe? or replace the down pipe and cat.

 

headers and dump em out under the doors
jk please don't do that

 

the downpipe flange is good, it looks like the leak is coming from the cat flange. i'm gonna call some recycling places tomorrow and see what they'd give me for my old cat.. a new one is about eighty bucks.

 

LOL!!! thats exactly what i did to my 20R in my '80 4x4....but its gettin 2 1/4in pipe through dual 3.5in stacks behind the cab as soon as it gets runnin again...but DAMN ITS LOUD!...wayyyyy too loud for my taste (and i love straight pipes and loud exhaust) but this is just nasty loud

 

I doubt the high temp rtv goop with seal a hole that big, but if its just gunna be a couple months its prob not worth fixing it right...

 

Dude, that things shot. as soon as you put an impact gun on those bolts there gonna shear off. Save yourself the pain, take a sawzaw or torch, cut'r off, then just fill the space with a pipe and some exhaust clamps. IF you can weld great, but I'm guessing even a talented mig'r will blow through the rusted exhaust pipe as I'm guessing it's really thin and rusted. I'm not sure, but I think I'm looking at the Cat Converter? If that's the case, ahhh well nevermind....cut'r off anyhow.

 

measure the length of the cat, if its 17.5" long you can get a direct replacement on ebay for about 85 bux, the part number is 23884 its a magnaflow high flow cat. I did this about 5 months ago and my old cat fetched $150 at the scrap yard, so i made money and fixed my exhaust leak!

 

actually, i replaced the bolts a few months ago when i replaced the leaky gasket the first time. they'll come out easy enough.

but don't worry, nobody's doing any welding on that pipe

i found a metal yard that'll quote me a price on the cat while it's still on the truck so we'll see what happens

 

i would just try and patch it, since your planning on doing a swap in the near future spending too much money doesnt make sence

 

true. if they'll give me some coin for the cat i may as well cut it out and just fab in a section of pipe for that small run. i'll have the cat(s) off the 3.4 in a while

 

Jb weld it

 

jb weld is a joke, no way its going to stick to that. If you want to rig it, they sell split flanges at pepboys for like 5 bux. I would go that route if i wasn't going to replace the entire piece

 

I've got a similar less severe issue. I've got a little leak in an exhaust gasket, and the three dollar gasket to replace it, but the bolts are never coming off (23 years of New England rust). I intend to replace the entire manifold once its warm or I have access to a garage. Any suggestions for sealing that for the time being.