Corolla Exhaust Broken Off in Front of Muffler

pvs58

New Member
#1
I saw my exhaust has broken off in front of the muffler, where there is a clamp. I have a Made in Canada 2005 Corolla LE, 5spd. It looks fairly benign. My mechanic has told me the entire exhaust system is "one-piece" and needs to be replaced from the catalytic converter, to the end, even though he admits most of the parts are fine. He made a special point of saying it was special, a Made in Canada Corolla (which arouses my suspicions immediately). It's a bad spot for sure, right in front of the clamp, but an entire $800.00 exhaust system, not including Labor? Does this pass the sniff test?
 
#2
It absolutely does not pass any test whatsoever. My day to day car is a mustang. It has 204,000 miles on it and runs perfectly thanks to a similar exhaust repair two days ago. You need to take it to a real muffler shop like I did. Muffler shops (this one is a mom and pop shop) have welders that Midas and dealerships just don't keep on hand or use much. It's not their style. Get this - my exhaust was broken a few inches in front of the catalytic converter. A better way of saying it is that my exhaust manifold end was snapped off. A few inches short of the end of the exhaust manifold (away from the engine now, right where it connects to the next pipe, which is the cat/pipe) it just snapped off - as in a short 3-inch long tube was bobbing around in the fitting of the cat pipe connection. So nothing fell off or down, it just exhausted there and sounded like a bad Harley. The Muffler shop I took it to welded the thing right up. $55! No kidding. but Ozzy did tell me had it been the other side, I would have been looking at some serious labor charges because he wouldn't have been able to get the welder in there. So you need a grungy mom and pop shop. Hunt around, friend. Someone out there can do that simple job. Steer clear of those utterly worthless chain shops. Geez they're pathetic.
 
#3
Found a middle section

The mechanic found a middle-section. I got an unneeded resonator but was able to save the catalytic converter and muffler repair for when they are actually needed. Total price was $334.00. He had to do some hunting and it looks like he cut it in and used an adapter on the end of the cat to attach the new middle section.
 
#4
Corolla exhaust repairs -

Thanks, I probably could have had him weld that spot but it's a really bad spot right at the clamp in front of muffler. He didn't make much money on it, but like I said, had to get a new resonator I didn't need. However $334.00 is better than $1000.00. So I agree with your great post about finding a real shop.
 
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