Blown exhaust - underneath all corroded

MaggieBaking

Hi we've got a Suzuki Liana, been such a great little car. A couple of years ago we noticed the exhaust was all corroded, and there was a hole in the pipe. We went to KwikFit who explained that in our car the whole exhaust was a long bit of kit from front to back and to replace it all would be very expensive...

Or we could just replace the exhaust and he would weld it into place saying it's a slight risk - which we went for.

Car's worked fine since, we had it wax-oiled a year ago to help with the corrosion.

Now our car's exhaust has blown (think that's the proper term) - my husband tells me he feels a hole at the gasket (we think it's a gasket - a big join that's also very corroded) before the new bit that was put on.

Anyone have any idea if our car is road worthy? The price of our car according to the insurance company is £1200 - are we looking to fix or scrap do you think?

Any advice would be appreciated. Will go to a garage today but I'd be worried they're too busy to look at the car.

Edit: - A week later now and the car has needed a new silencer and clamp and cost £75 to fix. Thought I would update in this post too so that anyone searching for the same problem can easily see what solved ours

gilbert_and_sullivan

''Or we could just replace the exhaust and he would weld it into place saying it's a slight risk - which we went for.''

Bit confused here, did you mean that you left the original exhaust in place and the chap welded a patch over the rusted section to extend the life of the exhaust?
In which case well done the fitter, that's the way to do it.

You were lucky to get a fast fit place to weld it up, they usually want to replace the section or preferably the lot and that might now be the case.

You'll have to get someone you trust to inspect it, it might be able to be patched up again or it might be time for a new exhaust system.

If the cost of a good new exhaust is around £250 or more consider getting a custom made stainless steel system fitted, they usually come with lifetime warranty.

Be wary of normal mild steel pattern part exhausts from fast fitters, they usually last till just out of warranty then fall apart.

Don't consider scrapping the car, the exhaust is a consumable item and usually needs replacing at least once in a cars lifetime.

freakybacon

Ring round for a quote- and try a couple of indepedent garages. Kwik fit is very much dependent on the branch- some good, some bad. If the car worth £1200, it will be worth repairing, an exhaust required should not scrap off a car. It will still be road worthy, just a bit noisy. a quick ebay search shows up some of the exhaust parts, you could use this as a guide to start.

You seem a bit wary of garages- maybe you could get a family member or friend to come with you to give you support? Perhaps one of your friends/family can recommend a local garage where they have had good service?

MaggieBaking

Hi everyone,

1 - they said that in our car it's a long component and theoretically you should replace the whole system - but instead they cut off the exhaust and stuck a new one on for about £150 ish. I was pleased at the time.

2 - no I'm not wary of garages at all, got a good one called Reliance at the bottom of the road and they are reliable, but a little pricey. However normally when I try and book anything in to get it seen to it's never quick because they're always so busy. I'm just not sure how safe the car is to drive until I can wait to be seen. My husband has a 40 minute commute on motorways to get to work.

Not sure if it can be patched, it appears it'd all crumble if you tried to do something substantial to it.

Thanks so much for your advice. I suppose I'm afraid it might be time for a new exhaust system and I'm worried how that much would be... But not as much as I'm worried that the corrosion on our car means it's past it's sell-by-date and we need a new one. I love that car!

s_b

wow just looked on ebay and even cheap exhausts are dear
one of the reasons one has to be careful when buying older off the mill imports

mikey72

£130 for the front section, if the back is still ok, then fitting on top, should be worth doing it.

MaggieBaking

Just to update - nipped into the local garage, a mechanic came and had a quick lookie. Said that the car is fine, needs a couple of things patching and something needs replacing (not sure what) but that it's not a big job. My husband is fine to drive to work and back and he can fit us in next Friday.

Very pleased, good to know it's still road worthy and not completely ruined - thanks for all your advice. Will update on Friday with specifics in case anyone finds this thread and has the same problem

red_eye

MaggieBaking wrote: »

Hi we've got a Suzuki Liana, been such a great little car. A couple of years ago we noticed the exhaust was all corroded, and there was a hole in the pipe. We went to KwikFit who explained that in our car the whole exhaust was a long bit of kit from front to back and to replace it all would be very expensive...

Or we could just replace the exhaust and he would weld it into place saying it's a slight risk - which we went for.

Car's worked fine since, we had it wax-oiled a year ago to help with the corrosion.

Now our car's exhaust has blown (think that's the proper term) - my husband tells me he feels a hole at the gasket (we think it's a gasket - a big join that's also very corroded) before the new bit that was put on.

Anyone have any idea if our car is road worthy? The price of our car according to the insurance company is £1200 - are we looking to fix or scrap do you think?

Any advice would be appreciated. Will go to a garage today but I'd be worried they're too busy to look at the car.

firstly you went to kwik fit and you cant get better then a kwick !!!! shitter a full system is around £40-50, I think if yours is a factory fit then it would be a one part system, but aftermarket exhausts have around 4-5 parts to make it easy fitting have a look on eurocarparts.co.uk for up to date prices just note that the diffrence in price means difference in quality.

red_eye

MaggieBaking wrote: »

Just to update - nipped into the local garage, a mechanic came and had a quick lookie. Said that the car is fine, needs a couple of things patching and something needs replacing (not sure what) but that it's not a big job. My husband is fine to drive to work and back and he can fit us in next Friday.

Very pleased, good to know it's still road worthy and not completely ruined - thanks for all your advice. Will update on Friday with specifics in case anyone finds this thread and has the same problem

lesson learned a kwik !!!! shitter will talk a load of !!!! to get your money:D

mikey72

red_eye wrote: »

firstly you went to kwik fit and you cant get better then a kwick !!!! shitter a full system is around £40-50, I think if yours is a factory fit then it would be a one part system, but aftermarket exhausts have around 4-5 parts to make it easy fitting have a look on eurocarparts.co.uk for up to date prices just note that the diffrence in price means difference in quality.

£40 at eurocarparts.co.uk for a full system?

You'll have to put up the link to that, best I could do was about £130 front, without delivery.

eurocarparts came back
Found (0) Exhaust Parts
for me though.

MaggieBaking

red_eye wrote: »

lesson learned a kwik !!!! shitter will talk a load of !!!! to get your money:D

As already discussed, I was pleased with Kwik Fit's service - have no complaints and would happily go there again. I get the feeling a lot of people in the trade think that they're stealing business, underpaying their mechanics and do bodge jobs. I am sure all of these things are true in some form - however if they were all as crap as you say they would have been out of business already.

They replaced our exhaust 2 years ago, and as I've already mentioned the corrosion in our car is beyond the bit they replaced so what they've done still works fine.