1992 head exhaust pipe leaking

Hi,

I'm having a small leaking in head exhaust pipe (A pipe I think the mechanic
called so). Most of it is still good but have some leaking in the soft
region. It looks like there is some kind of metal matrix wrapped on it. This
leaking should relate to the exhaust smell in the car when stopping in the
traffic light (sure not from other cars cause this happens in the parking
lot). Since the whole pipe is quite expensive, is there some kind of tape
that can endure high temperature and I can just wrap this soft region to
block the leaking for a while? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Yes, Autozone and like auto parts stores sells a tape (and epoxy to go with it?)
kit made for small exhaust pipe leaks. They sell other kits, IIRC. One is a
patch with clamps, which I tried once and do not recommend. The price range was
from around $3 to $7.

The epoxy that comes with these kits seems like it would do a good job at
sealing a small leak.

The tape (and epoxy?) kit may be just fine.

I had a rupture in the "B" pipe, made a mess trying to repair it (nothing
ventured, nothing gained) as described above. I shopped around for a new pipe
and found an import repair shop with a competitive price. Subsequently I did
find an even better price (about $60 vs. the roughly $90 I paid the shop vs.
$130 at the dealer) at http://www.honda-auto-parts-wholesale.com/ . But I would
have had to wait a week for it to get to me, so I was happy enough.

When you say "head exhaust pipe," do you mean upstream of the catalytic
converter?

Anything downstream of the cat. converter might be easily replaced with the help
of PB Blaster (penetrating oil for breaking free rusty bolts). At least, I found
it wasn't a tough job replacing the pipe between the cat. converter and muffler.
Five bolts. This is on a 1991 Honda Civic.

 

There are aftermarket A-pipes available from NAPA and the like for about
$100 (for an Accord, civic should be about the same). It bolts on and is a
fairly easy fix. You will need new gaskets, too, if you go this route.

ps