hi all...i have a 2002 1.6 ford focus LX petrol....today while
driving the exhaust started blowing really loud....so loud i had to open
the windows as it was deafening inside the car. was quiet embarrassing
driving actually as everyone was looking at me. there was no smoke or
anything and once i reached a certain rev in each gear it would quieten
down. also i noticed the car was sluggish.is this an expensive fix
please

Where is it broken to centre or at the back box and shouldn't be to expensive depends if your confident in doing it yourself or getting a garage to do it

i took it straight to a garage and he looked underneath and said it was the front exhaust and it could have messed up my cat....he couldnt give me a price not even a rough guide and couldnt fit me in till next week. Theres no way I could do it...typical female...might break a nail x

Ok...update...hubby got under car n saw a 2" hole in exhaust...hes used flexiwrap and son sealant stuff on it n so far it seems to have done the trick.....im a very happy lady at min...gonna give it a test run. So will report back x

bit of advice

should always look at repairing exhausts as a temporary measure...trust me, it wont last

bare in mind that exhaust usually corrode from inside to out, so you have no way of knowing the condition of the rest of that particular section...what usually happens is...if on a silencer, another hole will appear or the original hole gets larger...if its on a pipe, then same again but could also possibly break in half..if its on a joint where the pipe enters the box, then guarantee sooner, rather than later that repair will break away and either rattle like crazy or snap away.

better off changing though a repair will last for a short while....would als be wary of garage that stated this could have ruined your cat???? unless the hole is on the cat itself.

As above, get an opinion from another garage.

They're pushing to get you to fit a new cat and clear your credit card at the same time.

Thanks guys its a definate temp fix...it was on the actual pipe...n directly below gear stick....hence why it was so loud in car. We did take a pic but I cabt upload it via phone to here x

definately get a few quotes on exhaust prices. you'll be surprised on the difference

this is the hole that was causing all problems....at present it is sealed with flexiwrap and gungum sealent stuff...but this is temp...just hope its ok to drive 70 miles tomorrow, promised the kids a day out

should last you ok...looks like a spot where water was resting inside exhaust (its normal for water in exhaust so dont read anything into that) surrounding pipe looks solid enough to last you a while longer

having seen the location of the hole...then dont let anyone talk you into changing the cat too on the basis this would have ruined it...they're talking out of their rears

Mines rusted from the front down pipe from the cat, took it to a Formula 1 garage and there saying 240 for a new cat 500 for complete system, check a site called CarParts4less you can get the cat for about 80-90 pound and about 35 for the mid section and get hubby to replace forget garage there rip off merchants.

UPDATE!

Took it to garage today as it started blowing again and my ears were ringing like mad from noise....the prev owner had the whole exhaust welded together so it was gonna cost me £250 for the full exhaust but the guy said as everything looked ok he'd cut the part out that had the hole init and weld a new piece in place for £30......THEN he spotted the manifold...the flexipipe was litrallly hanging off and the mesh netting was pratically in bits (new one pictured below)....anyway....it deffo needed it replacing and i made him show me before starting work...all in all including the manifold and gasket plus the pipe welding where hole was.......£140.....now my little beast is back...i forgot how !Removed! nippy my car once was lol...thanks for advice guys.

thats not a bad deal for the work that was done