Greetings Guru's.

Last week I heard a rattle from the back of my car. So today, I went to check it out and found out the pipe right before the exhaust is broken off due to rust.

Do i have to get a whole new exhaust system or is the pipe replaceable?

Can I just have a shop weld it back?

Thanks alot for your input. Any help is appreciated.

Here is a drawing I did to paint the picture clearly. The black thing is th exhaust.

 

an exhaust shop can cut off the rusted part and weld a piece of pipe in that area. it will probably get rid of the flanges though so the b-pipe and muffler will be one piece.

 

That is the flange and it's a very common problem with these cars. A local muffler shop fixed mine for $75 by cutting out the flange and welding in a new pipe. $75 was actually a little expensive compared to what others have paid to have it fixed so try to get an estimate from few different muffler shops.

There are a few thread out there with this same issue.

Try this: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=334180

 

thanks alot!!

 

Mine broke there also, The day i bought it on the way home, $87 later and my own labor it was fixed.

 

i say take this chance to get an after market stainless b-pipe and get it connected to the muffler...if that part went bad, the rest will soon.

 

mine went 2.

 

you should buy the Megan Catback.

 

i bought the pipe that goes from the flange to the muffler seperate

 

same thing here. it rusts off right before the end of the muffler. i just had them replace the muffler (about $160 installed) and its done with.

 

Offtopic: Can I use megan racing b-pipe w/ cattman muffler ? ( fitment wise )

 

This is purely 'designed failure'. The rest of the system is stainless, except theses two flange pieces: the rear flange of the middle pipe and the front (only) flange of the muffler. Both flanges are pig-iron and rot out quickly. They are made to specifically fail in this way.

In my case, in early 2004 the flanges went out. Local muffler shops refused to do a patch job and would only sell me 2 pipes (b-pipe and muffler), only one of which would be 'guaranteed for life'. "No way!" said I.

I found a shop that would patch it, they did. The patch is still there and holding.

One thing that you should watch out for, however. You should remove BOTH flanges, even if both are not rotten, yet. Get them to insert a stainless steel spacer. If they remove the flanges and weld the rest together, the pipes will be pulled closer together and they will bang against the rear axle when you hit large-ish bumps. Kinda like a rotten bushing rubbing or something. Annoying until you get used to it. Any decent pipe shop should be able to take a length (5-6 inch) of SS pipe, and stretch both ends to fit over the ends of the existing pipes (now without flanges), leaving a 1.5-2 inch section at the regular diameter to act as the spacer.

 

My exhaust broke there too. I will probaly get a megan racing cat sometime, but it sounds good for now! = ghetto I know!

 

Mine rusted and eventually broke also. My pastor does welding in his spare time and he reconnected the flange for free two years ago and it worked until I took it off last week. I found an exceptionally clean 2000 Maxima with a spotless exhaust system at the Pull A Part in Augusta, GA. I bought the assembly for $11. The assembly is pristine, southern cars have it soooooo good. The whole underside and engine compartment of this car are spotless with not a sign of rust anywhere.

 

Mine broke there too, and it was one week after I bought the car from a dealership last June. The dealership wouldn't fix it, and I took it to my normal garage but they wouldn't weld it. So I decided to buy a new muffler and ordered the HKS Sport Exhaust from 2kracing.com. After waiting a few weeks for it to be in stock, I called them and they said it would be another month before they got it in stock. So I told them to send me the Greddy EVO2 and paid the difference, mainly because I couldn't stand hearing the metal rattle. In other words, this is a good excuse to buy a nice new exhaust!

 

Go with that

 

stop post whoring

To the OP: I think you got your answer, but I'm also in this same process. I'm getting a new b pipe and muffler

 

the factory exhaust is SS? this is news to me

 

the OEM exhaust IS NOT stainless steel

stock b-pipe




frankencar b-pipe (used)

 

Just to note, the MR catback can be quite loud. I had it on my car for a little over a month and it drove me crazy, particularly the droning on the highway. I ended up replacing the rear-section with a used OEM one and the combination is as quiet as a full stock system.