Hi all. I have a '97 Escort sedan with an exhaust leak.
The flex coupler (braided steel section) after the cat, and before the resonator, near the front of the car, is rusted through where it connects to the actual hard-wall exhaust pipe, on the front side.
The exhaust leak is most noticeable at WOT, when the engine rocks and seperates the pipe further apart, plus the exhaust is at higher velocity, so you hear the hissing sound.
This happened about a year ago and I paid a muffler shop $50 to weld it back together. Now their weld has broken, and I have the same problem.
They told me it was either this band-aid fix, or replace the whole exhaust for $400+.
Can you get just this coupler somehow? I assume it's needed to accomodate engine movement and/or chassis flex. Or can you just replace it with a piece of straight pipe?
Is there a way to turn this problem into an excuse for a new catback (say 2 1/4")?
When something breaks, I like to replace it with something better ... like the two broken rear springs I replaced with ZX2 S/R suspension on all four corners.
Thanks for your thoughts,
-- ST97
The flex coupler (braided steel section) after the cat, and before the resonator, near the front of the car, is rusted through where it connects to the actual hard-wall exhaust pipe, on the front side.
The exhaust leak is most noticeable at WOT, when the engine rocks and seperates the pipe further apart, plus the exhaust is at higher velocity, so you hear the hissing sound.
This happened about a year ago and I paid a muffler shop $50 to weld it back together. Now their weld has broken, and I have the same problem.
They told me it was either this band-aid fix, or replace the whole exhaust for $400+.
Can you get just this coupler somehow? I assume it's needed to accomodate engine movement and/or chassis flex. Or can you just replace it with a piece of straight pipe?
Is there a way to turn this problem into an excuse for a new catback (say 2 1/4")?
When something breaks, I like to replace it with something better ... like the two broken rear springs I replaced with ZX2 S/R suspension on all four corners.
Thanks for your thoughts,
-- ST97