The Oldsmobile Connection

justinwebb · Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 314 Location: Pataskala, OH

Yea so i got home last night and my exaust fell off the big box thing in the back broke off can i tape it on or somehting cause i really don't have the money to fix it and suggestions ??????

Cutlass95Ciera · Joined: 27 Jun 2003 Posts: 433 Location: Portage, Michigan

It would probl. be best to fix it. I had the same thing happen and it was not to much to get it fixed. Most mufflers have a lifetime waranty, so check your glovebox. Then you only have to first find someone to honor the waranty, and second pay for the pipes and labor. So overall it's not to bad. I say find a place that will honor it because I had a delema where the shop that did the mufler work for my grandma was no longer in existance, it was a park! LOL

88delta88 · Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 2407 Location: Canada

if it just fell off, get it welded back on for VERY cheap at a muffler shop. But if it's rusted or rotted out, it likely is, then you will need to get a new muffler... or worse, a new exhaust system alltogether. Its not good to try and put it off... It'll just get worse, and fast. So take it down and see what they say.

Cutlass95Ciera · Joined: 27 Jun 2003 Posts: 433 Location: Portage, Michigan

88delta88 wrote: Its not good to try and put it off... It'll just get worse, and fast.
Very true, Mine was rusted through and getting louder by the day, and I decided to take a trip with some friends to south haven....a nice little community by the lake michigan, only an hour away from here.....and it fell off and got lodged under my car. Big deal, and it sucked so bad. It left us stranded, but luckley only 5 minutes walking distance form south haven, so we got it towed!

justinwebb · Joined: 22 Apr 2004 Posts: 314 Location: Pataskala, OH

yea i had it checked they said 65 including labor to put a new one on since the old one was rusted and fell off

92BravadaAWD · Joined: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 80

my friends exhaust ..fell off and got twisted and lodged under his car.. a cavalier.. it sat for a night, till we went to napa and bought a 20 dollar pipe cutter.. talk about a pain in the ass

oldsmobile420 · Joined: 21 Dec 2003 Posts: 238 Location: pa

im getting my new muffler puton soon i just hope it soundsgood and not shity

88delta88 · Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 2407 Location: Canada

olds420... just make sure you LEAVE THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER ON!!! unless you like that ear peircing 2-stroke sound. I dont think thats cool even on a riced out car.

TheDarkShadow · Joined: 18 Jan 2004 Posts: 113 Location: Virginia Beach, VA

I had my muffler fall off my 83 Delta 88 a few years back, the pipe where it goes into the muffler well, just came off and the muffler wrapped around the rear axle :P *no big deal since it happened, ooo, about 200 feet from my house, i just drove back dragging it on the ground, and took the muffler/tail pipe off, and went on my way.... sounded good too, in fact, i miss the sound, to quiet now... been thinking of getting a glass pack :)

OldsGuy · Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 269 Location: Lees Summit MO

In 1975, my wife and I were newlyweds, driving from Memphis Tenn. to Fairfield Ca. on the old Rte 66. We were trailering a 12 foot U-haul with all our possessions behind my wife's 1973 Ford Maverick. Straight six, two door, green w/ bucket seats; nice little car. On the second day (a Sunday) we were just outside some podunk place in the New Mexico desert when I heard a loud BANG! I grabbed the steering wheel hard with both hands ready to try to control the car and trailer with a flat tire, which is what I thought happened, we were going about 75mph. A second later I heard the characteristic open exhaust sound and knew we had lost the muffler, a quick look in the rear view verified that, it was lying in the middle of the highway. By the time I got off on the shoulder and hiked back to retrieve the muffler a big truck had run over it and turned it into a pancake with a twisted tail on one end. On the Maverick the muffler was parrallel to the rear axle between the axle and the fuel tank. Had lost the muffler and tailpipe. Luckily we were only a few miles form a town and I was able to persuade a Napa store manager to open up and sell me a generic muffler and tailpipe that fit. I had some tools and was able to install them in about an hour, found some bricks for safety stands and jacked up the driver side high enough to get under the car. What an experience! But the payoff was, I was my wife's "hero" and she thanked me all night at the motel that night :wink: What an experience!

88delta88 · Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 2407 Location: Canada

Thats cool! I've heard a lot of tales of emergency patches and fixes on the highway... Thats a good one indeed! I would have felt quite proud of that accomplishment.

I heard one... Not sure if its true or not... A guy at my work was telling us about his dad's motorhome, with a chevy 350 in it, was driving down the highway in some remote desert region, when he thew a rod... He drained the oil into a pail, removed the oil pan with a small tool set stored in the motorhome and proceeded to unbolt the connecting rod and remove the offending parts, and left the piston and 1/2 a connecting rod up in the top of the cylinder. Bolted it back together and filled the crank case with the oil he saved. Got him to where he was going and they had it rebuilt.

That sounds pretty extreme, but I cant see a reason why it wouldnt have worked? That would have been a good save :-)

73Delta88 · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 10:58 am Post subject:

88delta88 wrote: That sounds pretty extreme, but I cant see a reason why it wouldnt have worked? That would have been a good save :-)
in theory I guess that could work, as long as the piston didn't slide back down. although when you throw a rod doesn't it usually get stabbed through something?
it must have been a pretty remote place if he was willing to do all that! I can just see it now, with the vultures circling over the motorhome with the guy underneath trying to pull his broken connecting rod out! :lol:

OldsGuy · Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 269 Location: Lees Summit MO

My dad was an Air Force jet mechanic. When I was about 10 years old, we were stationed in Germany and were on a vacation in Switzerland. That family car was a 1960 Ford Falcon station wagon. During the stay in Switzerland the car lost a rear axle bearing. Dad had to hitch a ride to a junk yard about 20 miles away to scavange an axle from a '58 Ford sedan, hoping it would fit as he could only make measurements with a basic carpenter's tape rule. It turned out the bearings fit ok and the axle fit inside the housing but it was about 1/2 inch too long! It did get us back to Germany and eventually he got a correct replacement axle. Again, the repairs were made on the side of the road with just an emergency tool box. With a little ingenuity and persistence it is amazing what can be done, as 88delta88 said, a guy makes a good save.

88delta88 · Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 2407 Location: Canada

amazing... emergencies tend to bring out the best in a person! some amazing stories, maybe we should start a topic all about amazing emergency repairs!

speedy266 · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 347 Location: Ontario, Canada

well this is nothing big, but my family and I had to go to Tennessee over the weekend. We took my dads 2002 Nissan Altima 2.5S and my brother was driving through a construction zone and i guess went over some nails and we got a flat. I changed it in under 10 minutes, and we were back on our way. lol my first save. :D