I was just under the car and noticed an exhaust clamp that is cracked that i want to replace. To me it looks like the clamp has shifted and is not in the middle of the joint where it should be. At the clamp it loks like there is a crack in the exhaust pipe itself on the bottom. I looked up the parts diagram and there is a sealing ring at that location. Now im wondering if what im looking at it the sealing ring, the mesh part (to me it looks like mesh in the new ring photo). Wondering if the built up material on the exhaust pipe is actually that sealing ring. If so how do i remove it, does that sealing ring compress down and get melted together from the heat forming a seal, can I just knock it away with a chisel, of will it have to be ground away with a grinder? I plan to order a new clamp and new sealing ring. I dont want to start the job without knowing what im in for. Seeing if someone who did this work before can explain what im looking at in the photos.


Parts diagram of the area im looking at. It is the joint with part # 140 and 150. 140 is the clamp, and 150 is the sealing ring.


The sealing ring part 150.


Cracks in the clamp. The clamp does not appear centered to me, looks like it moved left of where it should be. But its not loose, pipe doesnt move.


Close up. Looks like a crack on the pipe on the bottom. Wondering if what im looking at is the mesh part of the sealing ring, around entire pipe, maybe compressed and melted together. Or is that pipe flared out and the pipe im looking at and not the sealing ring?

 

Looking at it from the other side i'm hopeing it is the sealing ring, and not the pipe cracked. And the bolt seems to be missing. This just moved up on my list of things to do.




Edge of sealing ring?


Where did the bolt go?

 

Can I put a new clamp on without removing the pipe, open the clamp up and slide it over then bend it back?

 

First, are you having a problem? Is there an exhaust leak or rattling or anything that is driving your decision? If not, I'd leave it alone until you actually have a problem.

 

Check out clamp I used for same problem area..30,000 miles ago and still leak free. Riker Produc t''Torctite 304SS exhaust 2.5", Part # TTS250" (tried to download photo but "no go". Had to wire wheel off the crud and smooth down surface.

https://www.truckpipestore.com/clamp...-steel-tts250/

 

Right-click the image and copy (or copy image). Then click on the picture icon in the message options. Paste into the page and upload the photo.

 

 

Thanks for the tip..

 

With the car running and looking underneath I dont hear a noticable exhaust leak, sounds normal to me. But when i'm driving with the passenger window down I can hear a ticking sound when accelerating. On a cold start the passenger side manifold area is really loud, not sure if the gasket is bad or it has to due with the secondary air doing its thing. Also besides the clamp in the photos above the same looking clamp further down on the drivers side is cracked the same way, so I do want to replace the clamps fearing it failing while driving then ill be really screwed.

Id rather fix things now with the nice weather, than wait for something to break or fall off and its the middle of winter. I have quite a list of things to address. Oil filter housing and oil cooler gaskets, replace coolant, oil drip pan, breather cover, oil separator, secondary air valve gaskets, trans fluid and rusty trans pan, now the exhaust, spark plugs, rear control arm bushings. I enjoy working on the car.

 

Excellent point!

Sounds like you're going to be a happy guy!

 

Just received the sealing ring part# 2044920081. Very strange looking, though i never work on exhausts so this could be common. One side is exposed wire mesh, the other side came with a cardboard protective ring on it. Take it off and that side is a smaller diameter. Im assuming it can only be fitted one way, one side going into the pipe and the mesh side going over the other pipe. I want to say its made out of lead, its heavy and soft metal. Wondering if thats how it works, it melts to form the seal. Still waiting for the clamps from another store in the mean time. I'm hoping the old one comes off easy,

 

Just picked up some exhaust weld to hopefully repair an exhaust issue. When i removed the old clamp i noticed some of the pipe itself was brittle and broken off. The sealing ring seemed fine so left it alone. I just removed the old clamp and fit the new one on.













I was at the auto store and saw this product. My plan is to smear it on and form it nicely so the clamp will fit back on. I chose this because it says it cures like a weld, as opposed to the JB weld exhaust that says it cures like a cement. i want to seal it up so hot gasses arent flowing through and giving me an issue with the new clamp. The old clamp looked like it cracked, maybe from the heat?

 

Finally nice enough weather to work on the car. Removed the clamp so I can smear some of that exhaust weld on and allow it to cure overnight. Nothing major, just want to try and make sure no exhaust gasses blow out where they shouldn't be and also build up the area where the pipe was cracked off and missing so i can tighten the clamp all the way. Product is very easy to work with. Wire brush the area to remove any loose stuff and rust, cleaned the area with brake cleaner, wiped area with a wet rag per instructions then spread on with a craft stick, smoothed with gloved fingers. Theres another clamp down near the drivers muffler that is also cracked/split that I need to replace. Its odd how I have 2 clamps that have cracked/split apart.

 

Did this fix your noise issues when driving? I have a C250 that seems to have similar issue to yours.

 

I dont think it was leaking to begin with, I just replaced the clamps because they were broken. The clamps are holding up fine.

 

So do you still have this issue?:
"But when i'm driving with the passenger window down I can hear a ticking sound when accelerating"
I have a similar issue to that.

 

Oh, the ticking. I really dont know what it is, i thought maybe it was a hole in the passenger exhaust manifold. I keep forgetting about it since I hardly hear it.

 

Now I do have an exhaust leak at this joint. the car was at two different shops and they both fiddled with the exhaust. I had a feeling it would open a can of worms. Now it appears even more of the "female" side of the pipe has deteriorated and feel off.

Its not really loud, but i can hear it leaking and I dont like it.

Im under the car right now inspecting things and figuring out a plan. I was just going to apply some more of that muffler weld, still have the same container but unfortunately I opened it and its all cured. i went to the auto store to get a new container, only $6.

I was surprised to see the "male' side is actually longer and it is going inside the other pipe, not sure by how much but i was expecting a big gap, like a butt joint.

Now im wondering if my best option is to knock off the rest of the pipe and install a clamp like show above? Remove the sealing ring since its not needed, or wont fit for what I want to do. I just have to try and find a clamp that will work, i dont want to remove any more of the pipe where its broken off, i want to leave the ridge just to help support the other pipe. If that makes sense.

The dark shiny silver is part of the sealing ring. They at least put a new one in that I supplied.



Here you can see the remaining lip at the top of the "female" side pipe. I doubt that will last long on there with the clamp and the exhaust vibrating.



heres the sealing ring moved forward. Can see the "male" pipe going into the female side. Actually i dont think its going into that pipe, probably just past the edges.

 

Id like to find a clamp that looks like this to fit over the ridge in the middle.

 

I measured the diameter of the pipes with my cheap plastic calipers. Should be a good ball park measurement.

Here are some close-ups of what it looks like:

This photo is looking straight up from the ground.










Heres the "male" side, this part comes from the engine. Photos inverted to read the caliper:






Heres the "female" side, this is going to the rear: Its larger in diameter.





I also measured the ridge part the best I could. Measured at the area that would be remaining if i knocked off the rest of the broken edge.

 

I did some more searching around for ideas and came across a ball joint repair kit. I was thinking of getting a section of pipe that looks like the broken flared section and have a shop just weld it on.

 

Waiting for the ball joint thing to be delivered though im thinking it wont be what I need. Either wrong size, too thin or wrong material.

I want to use the same material that the exhaust is made out of, which I think is 304 stainless? Anyone know for sure?

I am thinking about buying an inexpensive welder since I have always wanted one anyways. My options to "fix" that joint are 1) Buy a new exhaust which comes with the resonator and passenger muffler from MB locally for $950, no shipping costs since I can just pick it up. 2) have a shop weld on something that replaces that flare part. 3) I weld on a new piece.




I was thinking of just having a muffler shop weld that joint closed, but then if i ever need to work on it at a later point it will be a pain. I'd have to cut the pipe and deal with sealing it somehow. So thats probably not a smart idea.

I know nothing about welding so did some research. Since its stainless i read its best to tig weld it, which will be expensive with having to buy gas. I read stainless can be mig welded with stainless flux core wire, no gas, but with gas will come out better. Im looking at welders than can do mig no gas, mig w/gas, stick weld, and tig weld for around $150 which isnt bad at all. A small bottle of argon gas will cost me over $200 plus fittings and gauges and whatever else is needed. Thats why I want to see if i can get away with just using the SS flux core wire no gas? i read if welding with SS flux core its the same as welding mig w/gas, the ground and the positive have to be reversed from regular flux core wire.




I was looking at used resonators just to buy it to cut that piece off that I need, have a muffler shop open the end up a little so I can slide it over the existing pipe and weld it on. But im not finding anything good under $100.

 

Forgot to mention while under the car checking things out i noticed the metal heat shield above the rear passenger muffler was hanging down. The small 5mm "shield nut with collar" had completely rusted away. Ended up using vise grips to spin what was left of them off.

They are around $4 each Part# 2109900150. I'm going to stop at Lowes and see what I can find that will last longer, im thinking just regular stainless steel nuts with big flat washers.











Just to put something in there I installed a few plastic nuts Part# 2019900050 used for installing the wheel well liners. They are self threading so work at a lot of different areas. These nuts work to hold up the large plastic undertrays along the bottom of the car also.

 

I received the ball joint piece and it actually looks like it will work for what I want. It feels like regular exhaust pipe, measures over 1mm so i think its 16 gauge.

I measured everything with my .99 cent plastic calipers so its not exact but for the pipe at the resonator I want to slide this over i was getting 61mm OD. Then I measured the OD of the sealing ring and was getting 67mm.

The small end of the part is 60mm ID, so I may have to expand it slightly but thats pretty close. Then the flared part measures 71.5 ID. I can trim away some material back until the ID is 67mm.

 

Hi everyone --- just finished this repair and then found this thread! Mine was not as bad as this example; we only noted a corroded clamp on state inspection. It was the tip of a small iceberg!
~The gasket is made of graphite or something similar, including the part that looks solid. It is pretty fragile.
~The other clamp has to be removed to pull the rear pipes far enough back and down to do the job. This is likely to be too corroded to remove without cutting.
~On mine, which has never had any previous repair, there is another part, which perhaps is on another parts diagram that I could not find. It's a small stainless pipe (see first image). That little pipe seems critical, especially since there was in my case some corrosion on the forward pipe. This short pipe was inside the rear pipe, and formed a V-notch.
~I ended up using a 1/8" (wood) chisel to carve the material out of the "V" to even see that it was a separate part. This ended up a lot easier than I thought it would. I had to cut 1/2" off the little pipe to clean it up.
~I reconnected the right side first, then aligned and clamped the left side.

The whole job took an hour. I suggest buying both clamps and the sealing gasket before starting, and if you can find it that little pipe. It is metric and stainless steel, and has to have the correct I.D. and O.D. If your flange is really corroded I believe (hope!) there is a flange replacement kit. I buy my parts from German Auto Parts; they are great to work with.