Exhaust - hole

[guest7619]

Hi

I think I can hear the exhaust starting to blow from about right under the passenger seat. The rear most section of the exhaust was replaced by kwikfit last year. The car is new to me but I think the exhaust is the original, it looks pretty rusty. I can't find the hole but I can hear it.

I searched here for posts on exhausts trying to get a consensus view but I'm not sure. What's a good exhaust to fit to a 2008 1st gen 1.2 jazz.  From what I've read here it's often suggested to just go for a kwikfit or the like and expect 2 years at most.  Previously KwikFit charged me way more than £200 to replace the rear most section and box, I'm not keen on them.

[Jocko]

If you live near a TMS Motor Spares, try them. My middle section cost £25 and a new cat £85.

[guest7619]

Thanks for the suggestion, I am in Edinburgh, I see the nearest one is over the forth bridge.

I know where the hole was now. Today the pipe has now completely broken away from the center box. Nothing's dragging on the ground but I wouldn't want to go to far, tomorrow I'll call my local garage and see if they can help. From the looks of the bolts under there I'm not equipped to deal with that much rust, the bolts don't even look like bolts anymore.

PS: I see 52mpg in your profile, I don't get near 52mpg with my 1.2  jazz, is that a lot of motorway miles ? If not I need advice on that, my jazz says 38mpg and I do often get on the A roads.

[Jocko]

I live in Kirkcaldy. My daily mileage is two short, cold start runs here in town. Nine miles daily. On a Saturday I trudge through to Danderhall, so that is A roads to Rosyth, M90 – M8 to Hermiston Gait, and City bypass to Sheriffhall roundabout. And return. I find it difficult to get the mpg up on motorway driving. A roads are best, where I can make use of DFCO (Deceleration Fuel Cut Off), where the injectors are shut off entirely if your foot is right off the accelerator. I have a ScanGauge E fitted to my OBD 2 port and this shows instantaneous mpg, and I drive accordingly. 53 mph (about 58 on speedometer) gives the best mpg. I keep in as high a gear as practicable and on a flat road, at 30 mph in 5th, I can get anything up to 80 mpg. I anticipate traffic ahead of me, and try never to use the brakes. Every time you touch the brakes you are wasting energy in the form of heat. Better not to have used that fuel in the first place.
Here is a print out of last Saturday’s ScanGauge figures (it records a load of data).
Average mpg: 55.6 mpg
Max coolant temp: 83°C
Distance travelled: 90.9 miles
Maximum revs: 3500 rpm
Max speed: 60 mph
Average speed: 39 mph
The extra miles is because I visited in Tranent while I was over at Danderhall.

[guest5079]

Are you now back Jocko?
 Useful information being your forte, just ignore those that ignore that which is written and just add something for the sake of it.
I do push my luck.

[Jocko]

Are you now back Jocko?

I watch the forum but don't participate. I had to help a fellow Scot and was unable to PM him so I posted here.

[JohnAlways]

Whilst on exhausts has anyone tried a stainless steel one?

[guest7619]

I ended up taking it to the local garage I've taken the car to before. They have not  yet let me down in terms of good work.
They replaced the center section and the cat because they were unable to separate it.
It ended up costing me £270. Sigh. They said they had to charge more because there was some unexpected difficulty fitting it.
I believe them, I saw the rust before hand.

Not stainless steel but I I think it's approaching that kind of price if I had more time I probably should have shopped around.

[guest7619]

I have a ScanGauge E fitted to my OBD 2 port and this shows instantaneous mpg, and I drive accordingly.

That looks like a very useful gadget. I shall look into getting one or something similar.
Then I could tell for sure if it was my wife's driving or something else, I have a theory the car is taking too long to warm up.

[culzean]

Not stainless steel but I I think it's approaching that kind of price if I had more time I probably should have shopped around.

Worth getting stainless if the car is a 'keeper' but factory fitted OEM Honda exhaust weighs a ton and will last around 10 years normally, aftermarket ones can last as little as 18 months (depending on what you pay, some made from tissue paper steel). Stainless should in theory last forever, but the car will not.

[Jocko]

They replaced the center section and the cat because they were unable to separate it.
It ended up costing me £270.

If the price was £270, inclusive of parts and VAT, then that was not too bad. Kwik Fit charged me £140 to replace the back box.
The reason I had to replace the cat was the same. The garage couldn't split the two!

[olduser1]

Check for similar aged Jazz's at your local breakers yard  -then get a s/h exhaust - same as buying a used car.

[sparky Paul]

Not stainless steel but I I think it's approaching that kind of price if I had more time I probably should have shopped around.

That's the problem when the exhaust is hanging off, it's got you over a barrel really.

Most garages can't be arsed to take the trouble to separate rotten exhaust from cats, it's easier to change the lot and charge the customer for a complete exhaust. However, OEM cats are worth saving if at all possible - they are designed to last the life of the car, and it's usually only the rear flange that rots. I've known cheap aftermarket cats struggle to pass the emissions test after only a few years. To save OEM cats, I've cut exhausts and welded in new studs, replaced flanges or even built up rotted flanges with weld if there's no alternative. If all else fails, it takes 15 minutes to cut a good flange from a scrap exhaust and weld it on.

There is an added incentive for garages to remove and replace OEM cats, they are worth good money for scrap - many are worth £30-£80, and a few are worth up to £250. The cheap aftermarket cats they replace them with are practically worthless for scrap.

[culzean]

If people would be more pro-active with maintenance (like replacing a battery at five years or an exhaust at 10 years as good examples) they would have more control over what gets fitted,  but if you get stranded with a duff battery or the exhaust falls off away from home you are in the position of having little choice in the matter.  I was involved in industrial maintenance for many years where unexpected failures could be a disaster ( especially in these days of 'just in time' production for companies like BMW, Toyota, Nissan and Honda with little or no buffer stock)  and far better to replace parts that may have lasted longer but would be problematic if they did fail, this may have given me a different slant on maintaining vehicles.

[guest7619]

Yes, I totally should have looked into changing it earlier, especially when the rear section started acting up.
Mine was a 2008 model, 77000 miles doing short trips on gritted winter roads. Recommend anyone else with the same start preparing.

It's a car I want to keep, it's not fun to drive and it's bare bones basic BUT it's been such a useful car, it works hard.  So I missed a trick I  should have prepared earlier.

I didn't think about the old cat still being worth a bit of cash, I should have asked to keep the old one.