In this video I bring you along as I fix a ladies loud exhaust on her Chrysler Town and Country. A visual inspection revealed a rust out flange bolt creating the leak. It is an easy fix assuming you have a torch.
-Enjoy!
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--Eric & Vanessa O.
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South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
-Enjoy!
If an SMA Video has helped you out please consider giving using "Patreon" to help support us. The videos take real time to create and pull us away from real work that pays our bills. CLICK HERE: https://www.patreon.com/southmainauto
CHECK OUT OUR "SMA SWAG" STORE! Go on Teespring and get your very own SMA merch!
https://teespring.com/stores/the-sma-store
If you don't like Patreon feel free to use the "PayPal Me" link: https://www.paypal.me/SouthMainAuto
The South Main Auto Amazon Store:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/southmainautorepairavoca
AES Wave Automotive Diagnostic Tools: https://www.aeswave.com/cart.php?m=affiliate_go&affiliateID=2525b91fc8e906e8215984074c9d9e8f&go=https://www.aeswave.com/Miscellaneous-p9347.html
Thank you for all the continuing support!
--Eric & Vanessa O.
Feel like sending some swag to SMA because you love the videos but don't know where to send it?
Just ship it here:
South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
Foreign Chrysler Town and Country it's got a big 36 and I imagine and uh ladies complaint is the exhaust is loud and it is. I drove it in. She's not lying. Sounded to me as if the leak was up here when I drove it in, we got some black West man, just a little crooked.
she's missing the bolt. There we go. look at that. Oh, that'd be an easy fix.
Easy fix there. Phil and not even a gasket required. Got some welded eye nuts though. All right.
I Got a plan I think I think it's gonna be a good job for vet you guys know Vic right quarter after eight. I Already got the torch out there now. we got two bolts to deal with. There's one and you've been.
oh what's hissing? Oh Vic's over here. There's a snake. There's two. Uh, I Think what we'll do first.
we'll get a little screwdriver here. Get rid of our slag. Oh wait, people don't think I've burned the pipe off. Foreign I Think we can just cut those nuts off the back.
Usually there's just a couple little tiny spot welds that hold those suckers on so we'll go on the back side here screwing them down. We'll see if we can't find a spot weld to Nick those babies off. Okay, now these are pretty crusty so we'll heat them up and all this rust is gonna pop off and with a little bit of luck, it'll land right on your lip. That's where it always seems to land.
I didn't even get me in the lift. We're gonna try to Nick them just a little over here. a little bit there, a little bit there. Look at that little guy down there.
it's right there. a little bit later. All right. Okay, so you want to fill with too much, you get that flange too hot and you're screwed because then you'll blow a hole right through it.
So let's uh, it's probably hot, so let's touch it. First of all, let's spin it around. We've got a pair of pliers. we'll spin it around here.
Go back to where we started, see if it's Wiggly yet. No sir, we might have to give it just a little jiggle with the air hammer. Yeah, let's uh, let's give that a little jiggle. see if it just knocks right off.
you don't need to go crazy here. We just want to give it a little brap like that, you sucker. Well I'll be darn the uh I thought for sure we would have got that spot. Well must be just a little bit more on there.
Let's give her a little more. A little more heat can't be much holding that thing on. Foreign. Wow.
All right, let's rattle that one a little bit. Let's see if it just cracks loose on us. No sir. I'm not doing real good in this department today are we just make it all disappear? Can't be seized If it's liquid, right? your mother, maybe it can be I Think it's rebinding? Well I Tried to show you a free tip Friday but I'm just gonna get nasty.
It's rebinding as it cools. Well, this guy looks like an idiot. Foreign. more than I've ever seen in my life.
Usually it's just the four corners that they've got tapped on there. so we're gonna have to. We have to do something different here. Foreign. Let's pretend we didn't see that one. Let's go around here and look at this one. Yeah, usually what they got folks because usually they're just, uh, a couple little attack welds in the corners of the nut and then you just take the torch and Nick them a little bit and then tap them with the air hammer and they usually come right off. These ones are playing hard to get so it's starting this one because that one's cooled down.
Get rid of the rest of what's there. All right? So that one's gone. Because what you do a lot of times you know, if these are like up in a body or something, you can, um, you can just take and whack on the back of the stud. Usually it'll break that nut right loose.
but you know, being on a flange like this typically take the torch kind of burn the sides of the nut a little bit. That breaks the bond must be these are folded on a little differently back to that flange. even the slide Lane in the bottom. So I guess the trick here is to not get ahead of yourself as far as keeping on cutting because once it once that flange turns red, you know, forget about it.
Don't uh, don't fiddle with it anymore, let it cool back down naturally or with your squirt gun. Sometimes cooling process will break the plant or the slag moves on it. We'll see if it did. We'll give it a little tap here.
Oops. Yeah So it broke that piece loose just during the cooling process and that one did too. so that's good. that one did not, but it's not that critical because it's just a little piece, just a little piece of slag.
Come on. Slack There we go. So there's that hole, see how this one is. So I don't know if you guys can see it or not? probably not.
but you can see you know three spot spot there there and they're almost kind of in a triangle shape and I believe that's where we're about. well the Dodge from the factory so let me just spray that side, make sure it's cooled down so we don't burn our little fingers there. Boy that took longer than expected so that's not too bad of a job really. If you have no gasket in here, it's a flange fit so we can just get a couple of what size bolts 10 millimeter or 3 8 stick back in there and this lady will be back on the road in no time.
Okay, there's some 3 8 bolt from the inventory, huh? I Hope there's room for a flat wash in there or not, but not very necessary, but we'll try it like a glove. Let's do this one here. So I don't know how you would do this as a homeowner. or I shouldn't say homework because you could run an apartment and still be struggling to do this.
Not even a homeowner is a Diyer I should say probably your best bet is if you don't have a torch, just take it to a shop that's gonna take at least cut those nuts off. It's a shame they're not just as standard. you know, not bolt that. that nut is welded from the factory.
so we want to get this flange kind of even. We'll go grab some 9 16 wrenches and snugger up and that's something you don't hear a guy say too often nowadays. Let me grab my 9 16. 14. Yeah, 9, 16, not so much. Now you don't have to kill these things I'm gonna make her even here. That's that's good enough though. There we have folks.
Pretty easy fix. At least the next guy can take the torch and just nip those off because they're just not some bolts Now excuse me. Something was pretty loud before. Oh much better you can.
You can hear it up right here. Pretty good. before. Look at that baby she met.
Yeah now I'm going to come out back. They're whistling down around a pee hole. We're talking as well, right? Your tea and your favorite. Cup Oh I think that is my favorite one.
Appreciate it. Thank you hey folks. Uh, not too big a deal. Uh, at least as far as fixing a shot and having a torch, you know if you're diying it I don't know how you would get.
let's not talk there. Maybe if you have lots of time on a Dremel tweet. go back there and you know Whittle away at them like I say typically the nut on a flange or welded nut, or even when it's in a body or a blind nut, they're usually held on just by a few little spot welds in the corner and that's it. These appeared to be bonded a little bit better because typically you take the torch and you just kind of go around it, give her a little form of hope, you know, around it and then typically it falls off.
but uh, the flange is some sort of alloy and you know then it seemed to be when it heated up that the not just kind of re-bonded to it. If you cool it down quickly, sometimes the water let it cool. naturally. a lot of times you can, you know, give them a little smack there with a chisel or something and usually it'll break that by and loose.
but either way it turned out good in the end. Just took a little longer than expected. It took 10 minutes instead of five. but uh, easy fix for this guy because you know the rest of the components are still halfway decent eventually on these: Stone goes that um, you know that resonator rots out and uh, you know that pipe that comes up and over? That's a real pain in the neck to change I Don't know if you guys ever change my knees, but they can be a pain in the hoo-hoo I think they've got the flex on them I Don't know.
But anyhow, one thing I do know you guys need to go in that comment section questions, comments, concerns instead Facebook You guys know what to do. Just my viewers. If I can do it, you can do it. Thanks for watching.
Thank you.
Great video! I absolutely love the Gulf hat! Awesome
Love the coffee cup! LMAO
You tube stopped your last video about the Buick. Says its unavailable and private. I was halfway thru when it disappeared. Its not in your playlist either. Thought you want to know.
Could you take a multi-tool with a diamond tip attachment and cut them off that way?
Or you could take it to a veterinarian to "cut those nuts off" 😂
Great job, Eric! I agree the rear resonator, tailpipe, axle hump section is a real bugger, especially when you add in a class 3 trailer hitch! You end up going Pentecostal and speaking in tongues.🤥
The last 3 I've done I just reused the nuts. I just unthreaded the broken bolt and the good one.
One on a Ford and 2 on a caravan. I've tried the grind method it's a pain laying on your back. I live in the rust belt.
What a precision with the flame…You are more a doctor, than a mechanic Sir.
Had this problem with my 08 Highlander, which has a doughnut gasket. Middle of nowhere, no torch. Vice grips and a lot of swearing, but they come off.
If you had a little gas torch , you know the little bottle ones heat that sucker up and take them out with a pair of voice grips.
Eric please go over and look at my comment I left on the Chrysler Town & Country – Rotted Oil Pan post! Thanks!
Eric I have a question that has nothing to do with this video, I need to flat tow a 2009 Ford f150, will I need to pull the drive line? Great video as always.
👍
Love how you always take the time to do a professional job, even on a little job like this.
i prefer my torch settings a little different but if it works for you thats all that matters.
Nice LaRue sticker Eric 😉
Good job Mr O. That hot tea looked good….
Loved “It’s a quarter after eight and I’ve already got the torch out” aka the gas axe
Don't forget to change the muffler bearing every 20k miles lol
Eric O.
Your getting to the level of Scotty Kilmer.
Nice to watch good techs at work.
Thanks man..
go to my tool closet … nope no torch… guess only you can do this one…but it was still neat to watch you work your magic!
LOL @ "…quarter after 8 and I already got the torch out"
"Can't be stuck if it's liquid. Maybe it can." Lol
Alas, circumstances have me a day behind on some of my favorite channels, so I'm late to the party on this one. Thanks as always, Eric!!
For the usual DIY? A good indy muffler shop.
I've never understood even growing up and living in CT up until 2018 where we use salt how/why people don't keep their cars clean, ESPECIALLY the undercarriage.
At every opportunity I had I took my car to a car wash to get that salt off.
"… quarter after 8 and he's already got the torch out…" I can't stop giggling…
For me, doing similarly to my own car, I had it on 2- jackstands, sawed the rusted bolts off flush to the welded nuts, center punched the bolts, drilled out them and the centers of the nuts, replaced them with 2-longer bolts, 2-washers, 2-nuts (right on top of the old ones😁), like you, except I left the outer part of the nuts, and think my available hardware was metric.
No torch? no big deal.😁👍🇺🇸😎
2 questions for you Mr O.
1) Do you have a container/s with a lot of nuts and bolts that are spares or that have been replaced with new fasteners that came with the parts to be fitted, that you repurpose on jobs just like this?
2) Does Josh get fed and given special treatment like yourself from the Great Mrs O, or is he self sufficient with his meal breaks and refreshments?
I never understood why you mechanics would do any kind of exhaust work Don't replace those bolts with actual exhaust type bolts which are black, and then throw some copper eyes seizing cream so that the next guy doesn't have a nightmare trying to get them off.
Eric O., I ❤️ your favorite cup.
YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR NAME TO RUST MASTER AUTO. LOVE THE VIDEO. GOD BLESS.
"Damn Slag "😅😅 That was the derogatory term for aliens in Alien Nation..and don't be shy, just go to your local shop and ask them to cut your nuts off!!🤣🤣🤣🤣 WTF Mr O!!??
If I remember right you took your wife to the big city for a doctor visit.
Is she doing ok now?
I drill threw the nut and nut and bolt threw the whole thing.
It needs a new Exhaust Bearing!
My Caravan has worn out the engine mounts which has caused enough movement to break the flex pipe. I didn't even know that was possible!
Same situation here in Nova Scotia Canada, every one of these vans after about 5 years does this.
I see Ponch back by the stereo keeping an eye on things at SMA.
Little buggers just didn’t want to cooperate! Vic and big nasty took care of it. Nice!
Wait… You say Town and Country, but the video says "Dodge Caravan" 🙂 – (I know, you're a mechanic, not a web developer)
Gee. That was a hard nut to crack. Luckily, you have Mrs. O. to calm you down. Enjoy your tea. Thanks for sharing! Stay healthy!
Please Eric, that is boring easy job. Can you show us the nasty header replacement, transmission replacement and engine replacement or this kind of stuff!
Thanks for your channel 👍
Wow, I did one of these just today. Bolts were in the same shape pretty much. I had to change the pipe behind it with the flex joint in it as well. Fun stuff.
Don't feel bad Eric. Couple of years ago did a full system on one for a gentleman. A week later it was sitting parked at a curb in the business district of St. Louis, Mo. Local bad driver boy hit it, knocked it over the curb into a store and totaled it. All the shiny new exhaust looked sad but some of it still had part tape still in place just a little heat discolored. I felt bad for the owner.
I Like the Cup
Q2
Vic is key here in NY! A portable torch is available with MC (motorcycle) tank. B (bus) is bigger. Named for back in the day when headlights were acetylene powered!
Why are we welding the nuts to the flange in the first place? Is the tension from the bolt not enough to hold things in place?
Welcome to New York you're under arrest ?
just grind the bolt down and drill hole through the welded on nut then put a longer bolt and nut ontop of flange nut
I'm a DYIer and my vocabulary helps me a lot!
I’d love to have a torch, it would definitely reduce the four letter words in my car repairs!
I just did this exact repair last week on my van. I ended up just grinding off the rusty studs that were left and I welded bolts on where the studs were. I left the nuts on the other side because I figured it would be hard to get them off.
As a homeowner and a DIYer who didn't used to have a torch, I would have spent a few hours pecking at that with a burr on a grinder most likely. Your way is definitely better….even when it didn't go your way you were done in a jiffy
Thanks Eric and Vic great video for our viewing experience!
We LOVE VIC
A solution would be to drill out the bolt head. A long tedious process, but doable for the home mechanic
Curious as to why you could not have removed the good bolt and then the broken one with a pair of vice grips (or something) and just used two new bolts in the existing nuts? Sure you have a good reason, I just don't know…
Nothing like an early morning flamethrower session.
When you were getting the studs out, I was expecting you to say its amateur hour at SMA 🤣
Nice rear main oil seal leak
Propane torch to heat the nut, spray WD / PB. Grab stud with vicegrips and wiggle. No wiggle heat & repeat.
🤠🌎
A heat wrench in the small B tank size is a rust belt home owners best friend,
How many comments does it take to refill your gas bottles 🙂
Sharp drill the size of the nut works good.
Mr O great video as always, when I didn’t have a torch I had a dremel used the lil cut off wheels once I got it down far enough I used a step bit to drill it out. Man I sure love my torch lol great work as always and remember if this unskilled redneck can do it so can you 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Take it to Vet to cut those nuts off. They do it all the time! LOL…sorry dad joke
When in doubt, get out the gas wrench!
Love the cup! 🤣🤣 Might want to let the owner know the rockers just under the slide are probably toast. As you would say "Ask me how I know" 2008 Grand Caravan at the body shop as I write this. Welcome to the rust belt.
I'd probably try a drill bit and a cold chisel, get close and call it good enough… fortunately I dont do anyone elses junk.
Old blue nose to the rescue . Great job
Nice repair Eric, and a cup of tee in a " let me just drop everything and fix your shit"
life is good!
You are very good at getting Victor started.
Eight-fifteen and say hello to Vic. You are in the rust belt now Baby.
Leaving a comment to help pay for a blanket for Trinity's horse.
Giving Chrysler some lovin' for having at least one quality component – exhaust flange nut welds.
last time I used a SAE wrench was on my snowblower everything is metric we will be switching to metric any day now they said in school in 1970s
Using the Hot Wrench like an artist!
Jeep hat give out?
Nice to see you busy…. A little violent today???
I have an 08 Chrysler T&C with the 3.8 V6. I had an interesting thing happen and I believe it was exhaust related. I was going up the Grapevine pass on I-5 and it got loud like I blew an exhaust gasket. After I was done with the climb it quieted back to normal and has been fine ever since. I will see about getting under and seeing if something like this is going on but what would Eric O. and/or one of the commenters think of that?
The Dealer would have bent her over Eric. Good Job I still DYI if it's with things I can do but I do a have Good Mechanic to do major repairs. He did break it off in me when I took him a New oil pan, gaskets, oil, filter after Oil change fastlube stripped my plug threads in the pan this threads were turning with the plug and I tried to get it out myself thus really screwing it up cutting a hole in original pan with grinder. $562 in labor and I provided parts$300 just because he said if you had brought it to me I could have fixed it with proper tools without you screwing it up and would have been only the new plug and a little labor. I humbly did my bow and kissed his ring never to do that again.
Yeah, that would be a Dremel job for me. Had to drill out an exhaust bolt once. A masonry bit worked pretty well.
another way to do this is to lite torch set to heat the metal but dont press the handle,,, just put the flame on the part an decrease the gas until it starts to blow the steel away,,,much easier to control the flame that way.
So I went to my local shop and asked them to “cut my nuts off” and they just laughed at me – what gives?!
NOTHING LIKE THE SMELL OF THE HEAT WRENCH IN THE MORNING!!!
😃😃
Gulf…"No Nox"gas was great!
I like these easy repairs and your chatting about it 🙂 You should make a day at the shop, what is happing during a day…
“Get rid of our slag” has an entirely different meaning here in 🇬🇧
You did everything I have done for those some days you bite the bear some days the bear bites you lol
Hiya Eric
Ask the guys at the dodge dealership in Atlanta about this, they'll tell you the entire exhaust system needs to be replaced because of that. 🤣🤣🤣
My home gamer method for getting those nuts off would have involved a dremel tool…..
Well, that's one way to help heat up and help dehumidify the shop early in the morning! 😂. And speaking of cutting the nuts off, not Deez nuts!! 😂
Man Eric, you finally posted a video that had an exact issue I needed to address! I happen to have this exact vehicle (well, it's a Grand Caravan, so the badging is different), with the exact same issue. I've been going in circles trying to figure out what kind of bolt I needed to get to replace that one, if I could ever get the broken one out, thinking that the nut was buit into the flange. Well, I guess it turns out in a roundabout way it is, just not in the way I thought. Now that I know I can just torch the damn thing off, and grab my own nut and bolt to replace them, that makes the job a whole lot easier! My only question for you now (and you touched on it in the end of the video) was that I have an issue on the other side of the van I haven't quite tracked down yet. I believe something similar has happened on the drivers side, and it seems to be behind the drivers side seat. Looking under the van I see a ring has come loose and is just dangling off the exhaust pipe, but I haven't been able to figure out where the ring came from or what portion of the exhaust I need to chase. Do you have any sage advice there?
Thanks for all the videos! They're a fantastic resource!