I am getting exhausted with the flex puns on this one but it's time to flex some creativity and save this lady some money on replacing the front pipe. At any rate come along as I swap out a broken flex pipe on a 2019 Ford Flex.
-Enjoy!
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-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!
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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:
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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.
Our forecast in 2019. Ford Flex It's got the Big Three five and I assume I could be wrong on that, but I know it's loud and lady says it's too loud for it. I Think it sounds pretty cool, but the flex pipes broke and uh, the only way to buy that from Ford is buy the whole front pipe assembly. We're going to see if we can't just weld in a new flex fueling.
Really odd thing is here is this front pipe. it isn't round it was at some point, but it's kind of like they do on the Nissan's where which I don't understand because there's a lot of clearance under here. but they flatten this thing right out and it still remains kind of flat as it comes up in here. So we're going to cut it off and see what we have to play with.
I mean it's already broke? We really can't make it any worse. Kind of. Technically we could. Let's be honest.
Well, here we go. we're gonna cut probably just behind this weld. I Guess probably see if I have a blade that's a little bit duller than this one. foreign.
So we're going to grind that up a little bit because it's kind of seamed up the side here. Well, let's chop it off right tight here before we get all the comments. I Do understand that this will cut better for right against the tool rest. However, I also understand that the blade hours this portion is way sharper.
so if I hold it back anyways for you, put that in there I get it I Get what you're saying? See what we have here to fill in the gap. So this is a two and a quarter inch pipe release on this on this end I Don't know what they started with originally and then deformed it. I got us a two and a half inch flex which it doesn't quite fit over here yet. but if we deform it, it will.
However, it's going to be a little big on this end. So I think what we might do is is expand I Guess yeah! I Guess one thing we could do is we could replace this pipe where it goes in Muffler but if you don't feel it, we won't I think we'll expand this out a little bit. we'll we'll deform this a little bit with a hammer or just stick it in the Vise and squish it a little and then I think that'll fit over there. We'll be able to weld that all the way around and then we'll expand this a little bit to you know, fit in here and it will be good.
And then the thing is, if this ever rots out again by the time this does, it's a 2019. Probably the rest of the exhaust will be routed off so it won't really matter because then you can replace the front pipe which only goes into here into the muffler so it's not a big deal. Let me go deform this end a little bit. So I flatten the pipe out a little bit, but we left this big booger of weld on there that we cut through to the sawdust.
Let's just take them. can't get that off? I'm going to make some shiny spots for the welder and you can see. or maybe you can't see, but um, you know, deformed that end a little bit I think it might be too much, but oh nope, it's perfect. and then if we stick that over there, boom and then like I say we can fatten up this end just slightly I mean with the MIG welder, you could easily fill that Gap but and there's going to be a little Gap up here at the front, but that's what I See, we do. I'm going to cut a little bit of this nub off here, one side of the other I'll probably cut I'll probably cut this end off a little bit to be honest with you, and then we may not. Um, we may not clear that I've got a cone that we can stick on there that we can slightly reduce it I think a little bit more. There we go because how long is this baby? How long is it baby? Yeah, I'm gonna chop a half inch off. that gets a little bit closer.
Okay, stop I put a little pressure on it. they could get a bigger Hammer Dude, let's see. there we go. Okay, yeah, we probably can be cool about it and flare this up a little bit.
Let me get a pipe expander. We'll clear that up just a little just to take up that space. I Don't feel like cutting the mount and all that stuff off and it's getting to the stupid level at that point. So I might cut just a little bit off this side too.
and that'll That'll give us that little extra room back here. We'll get around the edge probably down there with the welder and I think we'll be good. Well, I get too carried away there. Okay, we'll go a little bit more foreign.
There we go. that's close enough. Um, we can easily weld that we could go a little bit more. I Don't want to risk.
Uh, sometimes most of these old rusty pipes, you'll risk splitting the pipe. We could probably take it a little bit more. Let's live Dangerously Good. foreign, a little deeper.
We didn't get it any wider. All right, that's where it's staying. whether it's right or wrong. Oh you mother lover, you didn't go too big did you? Nope, No sir.
uh. before you stick it on there. I'm Gonna Shine it up a little bit so it's a little easier to weld and uh, do what we do there. We're not sending it to the moon, so let me get a little more of this sticker off here.
I Got a little bit about but oh baby. oh like a glove. look at that like I have a gold half Philly and we've got a place here for our ground wire to clamp on with the welder. These vice grips usually work really well.
Give that a little squeeze and let's go get a Miller time. We'll uh, give it a little tap uh before we get started. As you know, I'm not a professional welder I'm not going to make one continuous 360 degree bead. this is not the gas line pipeline I don't work for the local union and it's not structural and we're not sending it to the moon.
so I should clarify everything. But anyways, leave your professional comments in the comment section. Foreign, foreign, foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign. Oh I missed some.
A good thing. it's not the space shuttle because you would all just died. You got a bird turd in there now boys. Yes sir, we're going to the moon now baby. That's it. We're done shows over folks. We just got to make sure it sounds cool of course. I Don't have fun cooling about it then.
let's see if it sounds cool now, so be quiet. there she is I think it's pushing that pipe down works pretty good. You can see it kind of undercut some of the welds there, but I think this like I say I think this will last as long as the rest of the pipe does. You know I mean this is a work of art but eventually this will rust out right here in the middle.
That crotch will Rust Out of these like they always do not on these cars like in particular but anytime an auto manufacturer has this design uh GM or cord it will always rot out right here. right in that right in the crack it gets a little crotch. Rod I call it and then in that case then yeah then you buy this pipe from Ford and you know it comes all the way up to here so us expanding that it doesn't matter the end of the day this is way cheaper than you know this whole deal and chances are when that front Rod tell it'll probably rot out right back here too. it's already got a whole Factory defect in that weld so that'll get all rotted out and then of course it'll rot out.
You know where it goes in the back of the Mufflers or the seam of the muffler there will rot out. So 19. So yeah, a couple couple more years it'll be junk. There you go folks, let's fix a new flexi.
There you have it folks, putting a flex on your Flex How ironic, right? Uh, pretty disappointing to see the exhaust on these. It's pretty well crap. Most Oems, most not all have you know much better pipe than than what this car seems to have. on it.
I mean the pipe that's on this car looks like it's aftermarket. It looks like it's you know Walker you know last couple years and throw it in the trash. Uh, which is kind of weird, but it's not. it's all OEM it's just, you know, cheap quality.
So I guess that's it. These things are super handy you have around. Uh, if you go on Walker's website they have a PDF file of all their different lengths and sizes and dimensions and with or without you know Well Done ends and they're handy to have around, but they're nothing like the quality of a decent OEM not this one in particular. These will last a couple of years and then they're junk.
pretty much like all the rest of their exhaust systems. So which is kind of disappointing because we don't have a lot of choices as far as what we can get in exhaust parts we can get OEM if it's available but it is 2023 so everything is still unprecedented. Back order: you know you just can't get it so it's kind of a pain you can get Walker or some other stuff that we've seen like on RockAuto some other no-name brands you've never heard of and there's not a lot of like you know, stainless options or high quality options for you know, daily driver type Passenger cars so we just do what we do. We do the best we can with what we have and why don't you to do the best you can leave in a comment in that comment section questions comments since the Facebook just my viewers. If I can do it you can do it. Thanks for watching foreign.
My Ford Transit 350 has that same kind of rusty OEM exhaust (and don’t live in the rust belt).
Oh no Eric, you didn't just get out the comment generator! 🤭
I had a 2016 Ford Flex. I had the flex pipe replaced twice during the time I owned it. Ford dealership wanted $1500 to replace the entire pipe assembly. Replacing the flex pipe by a local exhaust shop was around $100.
You may not be a pro welder but the welder it sounds to be setup perfect.
Just curious why you did not use the torch to weld? All muffler shops in our country do that. It tends to fill the gaps better, resulting os less to no leaks.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 great. Welds . No one come to take a picture important part it works no leaks
I LOVE YOU BROTHER. I USUALLY DON'T COMMENT I JUST ENJOY YOU'RE VIDEOS. I'M AN OLD MECHANIC TRYING TO KEEP UP TO WORK ON MY OWN VEHICLE. THINGS CHANCGE SO FAST AND I'VE BEEN OUT OF THE INDUSTRY FOR 20 YEARS BECAUSE I'M DISABLED AND CAN NOLONGER DO WHAT I LOVE. I WAS IN MY TIME 1BOF THE BEST DIAGNOSIS TECH. HOW TIME FLIES. JUST YESTERDAY I WAS 16, NOW I'M PUSHING 60! CRAZY. GOD BLESS YOU MY BROTHER AND THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DO FOR US.
Which Exhaust pipe expander kit/brand do you use?
F O R D – Found On Road Dead
Nice job ! 👍
I think your selling your welding skills short, that looked fine and sounded even better.
Better than me!
Yep, that was an easy one. If I may offer a tip after 20+ yrs mig welding exhaust: When you weld as far as you can on the top on one side, build up a little bump of molten metal, then quickly while it's still molten, go to the other side and weld starting at that bump, you'll be able to see it and know you welded it all across the top. ben/ michigan
Your welds are as well
My welds are stacy David welds
Different video but may I share this observation. I've been at this for 40 years and when ever I watch you work it inspires me to go more and to do more. You offer us good times and rewarding results. Make our customers trust us. Eric, you the best. On behalf of all pro techs, we thank you.
I’m impressed you stayed on the pipes as much as you did! Lmao I can never stay on them pipes more than 1/2inch before it tries to blow away from too much heat.
as a graduate of JB Weld University …
i'd say your SPARKLY welding rig makes for quite the show …
☢
Customer should be grateful. Good job.
Eric O, I'm the president of local 7018 of the "International Brotherhood of the bigger the glob the better the job" welders union. Your welding skills appear to me to be to high, however, if you truly feel your welding skills are low enough we'd be happy to have you. 😉
You never cease to amaze Eric..
Very impressive idea…😊
weld looked really good Eric. We had our stolen ford transit bus parts identified when my son saw it. Police asked if it was ours, Chris said yes definatley as that's my dads bird shit welding!
Eric u had that machine set up perfect. I always listen to the sound when welding. Thanks for sharing
Ouch sparks from above lol.
These ford flex pipes are terrible. A buddy of mine has an ecosport that he had to have the flexpipe replaced on 2 years ago, and now it needs it done again
After 40+ years of welding, starting out with stick Welders and ending up running laser welders. I say you did a fine job there buddy. Enjoy your videos.
Seeing Eric Weld the Exhaust Pipe Brings me Back to the Old Days when we used a Coat Hanger and a Torch to Braze Exhaust Pipe Conn. Together–it would still work but the New Coat Hangers generally have to much anti-rust coatings on them…
Thats not a bad weld mr O considering your welding too an old pipe and under the car. 👍🏴
I can send you pics of an exhaust weld I paid for that was worse than any Weld you've done. It was louder after the weld than when I had them weld in new parts.
As long as the customer is happy you did a good job.
Why not fix the small hole in back crotch ? Possibly could have opened a bigger can of worms
Eric – Professional job again. In the future use this "Disclaimer" – I'm not a professional welder but I do play one on YouTube. – As per the welder's comment & mine you now are YouTube certified by us both !!!
I do both machining and welding at work. You did a great job. Welding on thin and rusty steel is hard.
My 2011 Acadia has 58K miles on it that I got from my dad which hardly drove it hence the very low mileage had the same issue. It was leaking from the same flex pipe. It was throwing codes at me for oxygen sensor and stabilatrac and antilock brake with the traction control all in service mode.
It’s amazing that a little exhaust leak would trigger the ECM into this mode.
My sisters 2011 Traverse also did the same thing last week and it went into limp mode where she couldn’t go past 40mph and it would rev at 4000rpm.
You are a professional mechanic and I couldn’t in good conscious find anything bad to say about you.
There will always be weekend keyboard warriors out there that hide like the coward they are behind their screen .
I challenge any one of them to come face to face and say the same thing to me. I double dog dare them. The chicken shits they truly are.
Keep doin what you do! Keep the shiny side up!
Well done , you saved the woman heaps of money by being a good service person , keep up the great work . Thanks for the movie.
i tell ya what i had to put a new upper frame rail left side on a 2023 ford explorer this week.couple bought it it had 9 miles on it and a big buck plowed into left front took bumper out and and inner frame raili have 35 years experience in collision repair and that dang thing almost made me cry aluminium strut tower attached to metal and boxed in towards windshield 4 layers thick.i burned up 30 25 dollar drill bits and 9 half inch wide 60 grit belts on my beltsander that rail was no joke
It's not loud, loud is when you get your CAT stolen, and then you find out you can only replace with a CARP certified CAT which cost thousands of dollars.
always put SPF 50 or higher sun block on exposed skin next to the arch… i have freckles on both my upper arms now because of second degree sunburn from welding without it…
👍👍
Ordering from Ford is like ordering from HARBOR FRIEGHT
I'm surprised you don't disconnect the vehicle battery before welding on it (or maybe you did and just didn't mention it)
With the welding it's best to go forward then back but do it all in one pass, and I mean both ends without stopping in the middle, I've been welding since electricity was invented.
This guy have a stroke?
Those don't require cadilidic converter?
I love living in the south I've NEVER had to fix exhaust.
The Austin Powers reference always gets me LOL
Just replaced the flex pipes on my flex.
If I could weld I would have went that route.
Not the booger job I'm used to doing but I guess it should hold up for a little while… Decent job, rookie.
Could the expander have been used to round the other side?
When I see shit like this it makes me wonder I don't have a Mrs O.
"We aren't sendin' it to the moon." I can always count on a one-liner for an LOL.
Best part of an Eric O welding video is the I'm a simple caveman disclaimer.😅
I can’t. Weld. But you make. It looks. Easy. Flex. Pipes. Our. Quite. Invention. Good. For. Vibration. I supose. AlwYs. Interior. Thanks
Great work as always. I'm a DIYer for over 40 years and love you methodology on troubleshooting. My only advice is hearing protection around air tools. If you don't already use it now. It's a sneaky hearing killer. I learn a lot from your channel
Yep. I've got about 45 years of exhaust welding under my belt with everything from stick to TIG. Those welds definitely qualify as goo-ee-nuff Eric! 🇺🇸😎
have you heard of any class action suits against manufacturers because they don't have parts to fix their vehicles? … its federal law 10 years they are mandated to stock them… so .. shouldn't they be held accountable .. forced to provide loaner vehicles .. whatever it might be.. because its just not acceptable at this point.. sure the first 6 months of vid but.. if you can't get a part that has no aftermarket replacement the whole vehicle is down.. If I had a 2 year old vehicle that can't be driven I would want them to buy it back from me.
It's sad that you have to qualify every job you do with a disclaimer to keep the so called "professionals" from mansplaining how you're doing it wrong. I find these mouth breathers tend to reside on the left side of the Dunning-Kruger curve…
As usual a stellar job!!
kind of ironic that ford is putting crap muffler parts on their cars since i remember they were one of the first to put stainless exhaust on when they came out with the taurus and that killed a lot of muffler shops replacing stuff every 5 years
you are a professional welder since you are getting paid to weld that pipe on there LOL
Four years old and the vehicle is well past half of its life due to rust. I'm glad I don't have to work on vehicles from the frozen north.
Take a break Eric, that looked like exhausting work.
Good job Eric. Greetings from Sweden
You did some nice welding.
Rainman Ray could learn something from you.
I teach welding at a community college in North Carolina. You should take my class. Just sayin'.
and 1,2,3, welding comment go: nice job dober haha kidding nice job thk for the video
Cheap quality is the Description of Ford…..This should be Stainless Steel…..New Cars are Junk
Keep your skin covered. The UV Light from the arc will give you sunburn. And we all know sunburn isn't the best for your skin.
As always, an honest and solid fix. But I'm a bit confused. I thought that when the pollution controls came in, part of that was a 100K warranty and the exhaust was considered part of the pollution thing due to the cats, etc. So that's when the manufacters turned to using stainless and Midas had to become a general repair shop instead of just exhaust. That pipe didn't look like stainless, though the flex did. Has something changed where it wouldn't be covered?
That weld looks great from Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Welds look pro to me!
Wish I was able to weld the good. Need to replace my crappy welder and get something better.
I love my new zip up hoodie ! 😁
Back when I was living in PA and wrenching we had Walker and AP to choose from but neither was very good. Here in South Carolina I have not had to replace a rotted out exhaust in the 35 years I've been here. I really don't miss working on rust belt scrap. Just as a friendly suggestion, you really should be using hearing protection. Take it from someone who destroyed his hearing running air tools and beating on things.
I'm broke, its broken.
2019 with a rotted exhaust, that's hilarious, and sad at the same time. Should be a crime to sell those vehicles in the rust belt.
Eric flexing his weld skills !!
Gotta love some arm pit spatter.
Borla?
Great video! Thanks for doing what you do!
Not sending it to the MOON! LOL
Love some cold steel work in the morning! Great idea, loved it!
Stainless steel is the way to go!
Wish I could do half as good.
I bet nobody ever leaves any negative comments about your torching skills. You weld 199 times better than me.
Fantastic Job!! Thank you for doing it your way and not speeding up the camera. I LOVE watching you weld and when cutting stuff off..
"I should see if I have a blade any duller than this one" 😂 I was not ready for that this early in the morning
On the loose ends some times I cut a piece off a scrap pipe,about 1/2" wide, then slice the "bushing" piece to wrap tight around the pipe to take up gap before welding. Like you said expanding rusted pipe weakens it even more by stretching the metal that's there. The bushing method also helps to keep from blowing thru when welding already weak rusty pipe. Hope that's helpful😅
Eric my experience is those flex pipes is lucky to last 2 years. what brand is the expander it works really good?
You underestimate yourself as a welder Eric. Nice work
As long as its sealed and holds together for the useful life of the exhaust, that's the level of weld we're aiming for. 😊
Never heard of a flex, here in the uk. I thought it was a Range Rover when i first saw it.
Nothing wrong with the quality of that welding, especially on a rusty exhaust 👍
Nice job!
Eric please wear some long sleeves when welding. The light from the welding can cause skin cancer.
Other than that, great job as always
The ecoboost version of this car probably has the better exhaust overall
You know as an OLDER GM lover, I was happy to see a Ford in the shop. Alas, just rusty exhaust! I think those welds turned out great. Too bad about the salt belt some nice cars getting wasted from rust! Mom’s old 2010 Escape 2wd still looks new underneath! Now if that 4 banger had some power it’d be nice!
A weld by Eric O. Is art. No other explanation needed. Kind of like those painters who make paintings by shooting paint out of their …. You know what I mean.
I got a dual magnaflow exhaust system on my tundra a couple years back, you should have seen the hack job they did welding it together 🤦♂️, all the welding I’ve seen Eric do has been pretty decent.
A 2019 model vehicle and the flex pipe is already broken? It took 20 years for my Toyota to do that in the rust belt.
You may not be a 'professional' welder, Eric, but that's some of the best pipe welds I've seen! 😊
I have the same problem with my Flex! Just had the same job done 2 years ago, need to again. I live in Ithaca, wish I was just a bit closer to you!