How to Temporary Fix a Hole in an Exhaust
It's typical, the car is driving like a dream, when you realise that the sporty noise isn't your engine sounding cool, it's your exhaust finally rusting through. If you're lucky, the hole is in either one of the straight pipes, or one of the boxes. If not, the hole has developed in the angle between one of the exhaust boxes and the pipe.
A nice simple hole in an exhaust pipe section can be repaired in a variety of ways. You can purchase an exhaust repair bandage to wrap around the pipe, and give your exhaust a little bit more life. These repair kits usually provide a length of heavy tin strip, which you place around the pipe before applying the special bandage. These bandages harden when the exhaust warms up.
A temporary, but fairly effective repair can also be made using an old tin can and a couple of jubilee clips. Just make sure that both ends of the can are removed, and then you just cut up the length of the can. Slide the can around the exhaust pipe, and fasten in place using the jubilee clips.
A hole in one of the boxes can also be dealt with using an exhaust repair bandage. Although you may also want to use some exhaust repair paste around the hole when placing the tin strip in place. A few turns of the bandage, and your problem is temporary solved.
How about a hole in the junction of the pipe and exhaust box, can a decent temporary repair be made in this awkward spot. Again, using a mixture of exhaust repair paste, and clever little device, which can be purchased in any good auto accessories shop, a reasonable repair can be executed.
This device is like a flexible version of the old tin can repair. The difference being, that either end of the metal repair tube can be flared. This is done to allow it to flatten against the exhaust box, while the other end wraps around the pipe.
It must be remembered that all of these repairs are temporary, and the old exhaust should be replaced as soon as possible. This isn't just because an exhaust with a hole in it is noisy; it is also a potential death trap.
An exhaust is designed to take the fumes through a filter system to reduce emissions, and then out of harms way of the car's occupants. If your exhaust is not doing its job, not only are you releasing harmful emissions into the atmosphere, but also you are probably slowly poisoning yourself.
Sitting in traffic while your damaged exhaust is pumping carbon monoxide into the cab is a sure-fire way of committing suicide. So do yourself and your family a favour. If your exhaust is blowing, do a temporary fix on your exhaust if you have to, but don't forget to get it fixed properly as soon as you can.
