tailpipe broken at catalytic converter

crauled under my 2001 f-150 looking for source of rattle, and discovered
tailpipe rusted and broken right at catalytic converter......have dual
exhaust and right side is not broken.......70,000 miles on truck.
does this sound like it is repairable, would I need to replace catalytic
converter?

made error in my question....what I have is a cat back dual exhaust. exhaust
pipe goes from catalytic converter to some rectangular metal "box" that
splits exhaust to 2 tailpipes......one of the tailpipes is rusted and broken
right at this "box"

> wrote in message
...
> made error in my question....what I have is a cat back dual exhaust.
> exhaust
> pipe goes from catalytic converter to some rectangular metal "box" that
> splits exhaust to 2 tailpipes......one of the tailpipes is rusted and
> broken
> right at this "box"


A good muffler shop can often re-weld breaks like this. It
will quiet the car for a little while, but you probably should
start saving your money for a general repair.

When you start welding rust or burned out metal, you are
just barely keeping the wolves at bay.

On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:17:04 GMT, wrote:

>crauled under my 2001 f-150 looking for source of rattle, and discovered
>tailpipe rusted and broken right at catalytic converter......have dual
>exhaust and right side is not broken.......70,000 miles on truck.
>does this sound like it is repairable, would I need to replace catalytic
>converter?

If the guy at the muffler shop tells you he can fix it, he most likely
can. He can actually see it.

You can try near you, but you may have to go to a moderately poor
n'hood. The higher income the n'hood is, the less likely they will
be interested in doing anything but replacing it. I went through
this myself with a cat about 10 years ago -- my break was maybe a
couple inches from the cat, iirrc -- and the guy near me only wanted
to replace it. A few miles closer to downtown, the shop had all the
same tools the shops in the suburbs do, but it didnt' give free
cookies and coffee or have a spacious "waiting room". It was as
neat and clean as a normal shop, but wasn't the ridiculous sparkling
clean you sometimes see.

The guy quoted me a price of 50 dollars or so, to the best of my
recollection.. Once he got started I could see that he definitely
knew how to weld. . He put one bead around the whole pipe and then
went around it a second time putting on another bead, next to the
first, I guess. I wonder if everyone would have done two layers..
I gave 10 dollars more than he had asked.

I had the car for 3 or 4 more years, with no further problem with the
exhaust system.

It is a crime to throw away a good cat just because one seam is
broken. I guess there's a good chance the platinum will be recycled,
but a) not 100% chance, b) I wonder if they get all the platinum when
they do recycle, and c) the steel may or may not get recycled.

On 10/01/2011 02:58 AM, micky wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:17:04 GMT, wrote:
>
>> crauled under my 2001 f-150 looking for source of rattle, and discovered
>> tailpipe rusted and broken right at catalytic converter......have dual
>> exhaust and right side is not broken.......70,000 miles on truck.
>> does this sound like it is repairable, would I need to replace catalytic
>> converter?
>
> If the guy at the muffler shop tells you he can fix it, he most likely
> can. He can actually see it.
>
> You can try near you, but you may have to go to a moderately poor
> n'hood. The higher income the n'hood is, the less likely they will
> be interested in doing anything but replacing it. I went through
> this myself with a cat about 10 years ago -- my break was maybe a
> couple inches from the cat, iirrc -- and the guy near me only wanted
> to replace it. A few miles closer to downtown, the shop had all the
> same tools the shops in the suburbs do, but it didnt' give free
> cookies and coffee or have a spacious "waiting room". It was as
> neat and clean as a normal shop, but wasn't the ridiculous sparkling
> clean you sometimes see.
>
> The guy quoted me a price of 50 dollars or so, to the best of my
> recollection.. Once he got started I could see that he definitely
> knew how to weld. . He put one bead around the whole pipe and then
> went around it a second time putting on another bead, next to the
> first, I guess. I wonder if everyone would have done two layers..
> I gave 10 dollars more than he had asked.
>
> I had the car for 3 or 4 more years, with no further problem with the
> exhaust system.
>
> It is a crime to throw away a good cat just because one seam is
> broken. I guess there's a good chance the platinum will be recycled,
> but a) not 100% chance, b) I wonder if they get all the platinum when
> they do recycle, and c) the steel may or may not get recycled.

I had the same experience as you. E28 BMW 535i (well used,) downshifted
for a turn and suddenly I thought a machine gun had gone off nearby but
it turned out that the outlet pipe had just pulled out of the body of
the cat. Nobody in the "nice" areas wanted to touch it but a muffler
shop closer to Detroit proper fixed me right up for cheap. Car wouldn't
have been worth the price of a new cat.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Sat, 01 Oct 2011 09:55:27 -0400, Nate Nagel >
wrote:

>
>> If the guy at the muffler shop tells you he can fix it, he most likely
>> can. He can actually see it.
>>
>> You can try near you, but you may have to go to a moderately poor
>> n'hood. The higher income the n'hood is, the less likely they will
>> be interested in doing anything but replacing it. I went through
>> this myself with a cat about 10 years ago -- my break was maybe a
>> couple inches from the cat, iirrc -- and the guy near me only wanted
>> to replace it. A few miles closer to downtown, the shop had all the
>> same tools the shops in the suburbs do, but it didnt' give free
>> cookies and coffee or have a spacious "waiting room". It was as
>> neat and clean as a normal shop, but wasn't the ridiculous sparkling
>> clean you sometimes see.
>>
>> The guy quoted me a price of 50 dollars or so, to the best of my
>> recollection.. Once he got started I could see that he definitely
>> knew how to weld. . He put one bead around the whole pipe and then
>> went around it a second time putting on another bead, next to the
>> first, I guess. I wonder if everyone would have done two layers..
>> I gave 10 dollars more than he had asked.
>>
>> I had the car for 3 or 4 more years, with no further problem with the
>> exhaust system.
>>
>> It is a crime to throw away a good cat just because one seam is
>> broken. I guess there's a good chance the platinum will be recycled,
>> but a) not 100% chance, b) I wonder if they get all the platinum when
>> they do recycle, and c) the steel may or may not get recycled.
>
>I had the same experience as you. E28 BMW 535i (well used,) downshifted
>for a turn and suddenly I thought a machine gun had gone off nearby but
>it turned out that the outlet pipe had just pulled out of the body of
>the cat. Nobody in the "nice" areas wanted to touch it but a muffler
>shop closer to Detroit proper fixed me right up for cheap. Car wouldn't
>have been worth the price of a new cat.

Yeah, same story.

Even if it woudl have been, no point in wasting money, etc.

>nate