Am I just unlucky? (2008 Lexus GS450h)

[GS450hSE]

My GS450h is 14 years old.  Done only 48,000 miles in it, from new.  Never mistreated.   Stored outside, but not in a saline environment.  Sails through its MOTs.  Never any problems.

Until:

Yesterday, heard a loud rattle from the rear when I pulled away from home.  I stopped immediately.  The silencer (muffler backbox at the end of the exhaust) on one side had come completely loose from the main body of the exhaust, and, together with the exhaust/end pipe. was being dragged.

Long and short, much of the Y section of the exhaust is corroded.  The sections closest to the silencers are badly corroded.  The silencers and tailpipes themselves are perfect.

No point even trying to weld it back - the metal has had it.  So a mechanic will fabricate a brand-new Y piece and weld it in to place.  A 2-3 hour job, cost (outside London) upwards of £200.

Have I been unlucky?

 

[scudney]

What makes you think so,14 years on the same exhaust is pretty good going,so no you are not unlucky. To be honest it was bound to go at some point due to age rather than low mileage 

[LenT]

3 hours ago, scudney said:

What makes you think so,14 years on the same exhaust is pretty good going,so no you are not unlucky. To be honest it was bound to go at some point due to age rather than low mileage 

Apart from age, you’ve only averaged 3,500 a year.  Now if that’s been a lot of very short journeys, then the exhaust system hasn’t been getting hot enough to eliminate the water condensation produced inside it.

So it just sits there, quietly corroding the metal from inside.   As John has pointed out, in such circumstances you’ve probably done quite well to have it last as long as it has!

If you can restore it for just £200, I’d say that was a something of a result!

[Mossypossy]

Absolutely the same with mine. Back box dropped off in town to be noisily dragged along.

It is an exhaust. They rust.

[PRT68]

I remember cars in the 60's and 70's. You were very lucky to have and exhaust last longer than 3 years! 

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, LenT said:

Apart from age, you’ve only averaged 3,500 a year.  Now if that’s been a lot of very short journeys, then the exhaust system hasn’t been getting hot enough to eliminate the water condensation produced inside it.

So it just sits there, quietly corroding the metal from inside.   As John has pointed out, in such circumstances you’ve probably done quite well to have it last as long as it has!

If you can restore it for just £200, I’d say that was a something of a result!

Exactly right Len. It is a function of use.

My Merc though is 19 years old, done 252,000 miles,yet still has its original exhaust.

Most of my journeys however, last long enough for the system to reach and importantly maintain,high temperatures.

3500 per annum in London traffic aint good for exhaust systems, so John has done rather well me thinks as a poorer quality system could have failed in less than 3 years.

[agent_dess]

My 14 year old IS250 developed a crack on the exhaust, overall the rest of exhaust was fine and i live in Scotland and in recent year been neglecting washes especially in the winter with all the salt on the roads.  I paid £50 for the welder to fix it.

[Linas.P]

I would say this is fairly good, generally 8-10 years on well used car for exhaust to rust and that is for the car which are regularly used and do miles. For exhaust to last on hybrid, for 14 years and on low mileage, that is quite good.

As other said - the more miles you do and the more of long trip you do, the better is for exhaust. Short trips are worst.

[The-Acre]

4 hours ago, agent_dess said:

My 14 year old IS250 developed a crack on the exhaust, overall the rest of exhaust was fine and i live in Scotland and in recent year been neglecting washes especially in the winter with all the salt on the roads.  I paid £50 for the welder to fix it.

I mentioned in another thread that my 6 year old Honda CR-V lived its life in Scotland, the underneath was bubbling with corrosion, I was shocked to see so much rust in such a short time. Sold now!

[agent_dess]

1 hour ago, The-Acre said:

I mentioned in another thread that my 6 year old Honda CR-V lived its life in Scotland, the underneath was bubbling with corrosion, I was shocked to see so much rust in such a short time. Sold now!

Yeah it can get bad up here, especially if the car has lived near the coast.  If the car is washed throughly especially underside then rust isn't an issue but I appreciate not everyone cares for their cars.

[steve2006]

I’m pretty sure that the LS400 was the last Lexus car built with a stainless steel exhaust as standard and every model after that was a mild steel system.

The difference here is that when I recently sold my 1994 Celsior it still, after 25 old years and 97,000 miles had the original system fitted.

Its replacement, a 2004 model year Celsior also fortunately came again with an SS system as this was apparently an option.

Fortunate for me in nearly 18 years of Lexus ownership I have never had to repair of replace an exhaust system.

[Malc]

John hi, I think £200 to extend the life of your exhaust ain't too bad at all  .........the past 3 years or so my Ls400 downpipe end of the exhaust has had to be welded to fix the emissions issues for the MOT

the entire exhaust is original and on 238k miles and my indy tells me will easily outlast the life of the car .......... subject to the downpipe front end being sorted by a specialist exhaust guy in Maidstone before the next MOT end of the year

The exhaust is built like an armoured tank he assures me  ........................... so just another 27 years life then eh 

Malc

[Las Palmas]

Are the exhaust not made of stainless? Should last lifetime of the car if they are. Had one made in Sweden on a Porsche 199X something and last time I saw the car (not many years ago) exhaust still looked new (rest of the car did not).

[GS450hSE]

9 hours ago, Malc said:

"subject to the downpipe front end being sorted by a specialist exhaust guy in Maidstone before the next MOT end of the year"

Craig at Maidstone Exhaust Centre, or ?

[GS450hSE]

9 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

Are the exhaust not made of stainless? Should last lifetime of the car if they are. Had one made in Sweden on a Porsche 199X something and last time I saw the car (not many years ago) exhaust still looked new (rest of the car did not).

Mild steel, mostly.  Good business for Lexus as they charge upwards of £3,000+VAT for their own (i.e., OEM) exhausts...

[ColinBarber]

11 hours ago, steve2006 said:

I’m pretty sure that the LS400 was the last Lexus car built with a stainless steel exhaust as standard and every model after that was a mild steel system.

That's not true. They definitely went through a phase of not using SS exhausts but the more modern ones do. e.g. all CT200h/IS300h/NX300h/RX450h/GS F etc. have SS manifolds and exhaust.

What grade and gauge of SS is used is another matter.

[Malc]

13 hours ago, GS450hSE said:

or ?

he's telling me to go to 

eurosportexhaust.co.uk

Its a challenging tiny place to find and get to seemingly .  at the back of the back-end of Maidstone

Malc

[Mossypossy]

Can you get to Brighton?

Grove Garage did my exhaust in stainless.