I'm thinking of buying a car that is being advertised cheap with only a few months MOT remaining, but the person selling it has left it in the drive way for a while due to what she described as a "hole in the exhaust". She also says the noise from the exhaust is very loud.
I'm wondering what is the worst that could be wrong with the exhaust in this case and how much would I be looking at to fix it in the worst case scenario?
She's selling the car for very cheap, it's 10 or 11 years old, but I don't want to buy something that I have to spend hundreds on.
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You do not say which Metro ,but when I had one ten years ago an exhaust system cost £35,but that did not have a cat .A WCS would be replacing the lot.Will the owner let you inspect it?
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Yes she will, but I'm a no hoper when it comes to car mechanics. By the way what is the abbreviation WCS?? Do you know what the worst possible price would be to replace the lot?
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By the way what is the abbreviation WCS??
Worse Case Senario, I would imagine.
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I was quoted £150 for a Metro (Rover 100) catalytic converter. The rest of the exhaust was fairly cheap though.
You can also get cat's from breakers yards for about a tenner but they're sold as seen.
If you can get the car cheap enough it might be worth buying.
Relax, it`s a Rover!
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Ha, thanks for that. I just phoned Kwik fit and they said roughly 110 fitted for the Silencer and middle part. I'll go for it.
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The fast fit chains have their merits, but by having them do this exhaust you'll be paying a lot more than you need to.
To give you some background (you mentioned you weren't good mechanically):
The hole in the exhaust will be what's causing the excessive noise, and it could be anywhere. Roughly speaking, the more outrageous the noise then the larger the hole will be and the nearer it will be to the engine.
All a mechanic will do is look and see where it is, so apart from the fact that he has a nice hydralic lift to raise the car above his head, he doesn't really have much real-world advantage over you.
What you need to do it get your head under the car while the engine is idling and have a good look. Before you do it, familarise yourself with the exhaust system. Under the bonnet, look for the big pipes coming from the front of the engine (four pipes from the engine into one pipe initially, this is the exhaust manifold and it may well have a silver-coloured heat shield over it). Follow the single pipe under the engine and sticking your head under the car follow it all the way to the silencer box and tailpipe at the back.
This exhaust comes in sections, sometimes welded together and sometimes bolted with mating flanges (faces). There will be the manifold (unlikely to be blown) which is the big solid section (the 4-into-1 pipe) attached to the front of the engine. Then the downpipe, going underneath to the bottom of the car - this may incorporate the catalytic converter (big oversized cylindrical thing built into the pipe). Next the mid section, a long and fairly simple pipe going underneath the car. Finally the back box, which is the silencer box and tailpipe. Often the midsection also incorporates a second silencer box.
You need to run the engine and inspect the whole system while it's running. There could be a small pinhole, a large hole, some sort of split, a leaking joint between pipes - anything really. The only part that's unlikely to be blown is the manifold - it's of much heavier construction than the rest. If it's a big leak it'll be easy to spot and you'll see the exhaust gases pouring out from it, if you can't see anything then having someone hold a rag over the tailpipe makes smaller leaks easier to spot.
If you find it difficult to look underneath and have no real means of raising it (drive-on ramps, or a jack and axle stands) then parking it half on a kerb (on side of the pavement, one side on the road), makes getting underneath a lot easier.
Really, only the leaking section requires replacing. Somewhere like Kwik-Fit will sell you as much exhaust as they can, so if say, the middle section is leaking, then they'll probably advise a new middle section and back box.
Find out what's gone. Buy the necessary pipe from a motor-factor who does exhausts (Bennetts, the national chain are good) and take it to your local small independent garage and ask them to fit it.
That'd be how I'd do it.
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Need to beware though.Some fast fits wont replace part systems depending on age? as a mate found out!
--
Steve
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seems awfully expensive for a middle and rear for a metro. If you can quote the exact year and cc of the car, and what area of the country you are from I might be able to secure a more realistic price.
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