Exhaust sounds a bit more beefy

T man 545645 · August 22

Hi

Had my 2006 IS250 for a long time now, maybe 11/12 years.

In that time its been a reliable workhorse, i have added almost 130k to it.

I bought it from the original owner who i know, so i have all the service history from day dot.

I can recognise the sounds the car makes, before the alternator went i could hear the whining noise beforehand and knew something was up. Same when the spark plugs needed changing. More recently a bit of the exhaust insulation became misplaced and i could immediately hear a new noise and got it to the garage.

I've recently been on a few long journeys (two hours plus). The exhaust sounds slightly sportier all of a sudden, only noticeable at startup or low speed.

Haven't got time to take to garage immediately, but worried if the whole exhaust needs replacing it might not be economical to keep the car.

The car is on 145k. Fully original exhaust with no work other then the bit of insulation being put back in place last year.

Anyone got any ideas on what i might be in for, if left for now will it get worse? Hoping my mechanics who have always been excellent (japex automotive) are willing to weld/repair when i eventually get the car to them.

Thanks in advance.

Taz

Linas.P · August 22

You likely have some holes in exhaust, that would be normal for the age and mileage of the car.

Whenever it is uneconomical to repair depends how you value your car, the middle + rear section of exhaust costs ~£500-700 to replace, depending on how fancy you want to get. Yes sure Lexus original parts are like £2800 and £1100 respectively, but nobody recommends using original replacement exhaust (not even Lexus themselves).

You can also patch the exhaust, I done it last year, because much like yourself I didn't feel like spending £700 on exhaust for my GS300 which I acquired for £1000. It only costed me £80 and it passed MOT... but welding is short term solution, even after 3 months I could already hear some holes reappeared (usually it just rusts around the weld, until it get's so thin and rusted that you can't even weld on it) and I probably need to take it to be welded again if I want to pass MOT. Basically, it is short term fix, but if you considering maybe replacing the car soon, then it may be what you need.

zoricib · August 22

Depending on where the blow is, it could be repairable.

If you're changing just the backboxes you can get a non-oem replacement from ebay for £250 but the quality will not be great - it could last 2 years or 10... Or you could get stainless steel backboxes for about £350.

Mine is now blowing by the middle box/ resonator (had it welded once but lasted a few weeks because the metal is so thin), so will have it replaced with an aftermarket one.

There are plenty of options to repair or replace, but depends on how much you want to spend on this.

Linas.P · August 22

To be honest it does not matter where it is blowing... it could always be fixed. The only difference is the complexity and costs. The total maximum costs for the system that is equivalent to OEM is £700, if only part of the system needs to be changed then it will be less. Also it my experience SS shouldn't really cost more, it just happens that more exhaust places work on SS, so that brings the overall cost down, if anything I was quoted more to do it in aluminised steel.

2 weeks is little bit too little for it to be considered repair, whoever did it, didn't do it "properly" i.e. if there was section that was too think, they should have cut it out and weld section of pipe in. Not just build sandcastle on top of rust. Obviously, sometimes it get's to the point where one just have to replace the whole exhaust as there is nothing salvageable on it. Mines was quite think as well, but it lasted like 3 months. I would say 3-6 months is realistic from patch-job.

zoricib · August 22

On the repair I asked the mechanic to take a look whilst I had my oil changed as I thought the exhaust had a blow somewhere & he welded it a bit but did mention the metal was thin and he won't be able to do a great job on it. For £10, that's exactly how I was expecting it to last 😄. Gives me a reason to switch the resonator though, which I always wanted to do.

J Henderson · August 22

Welding is just delaying the inevitable. Only worth doing if an MOT is imminent, or you wish to sell the car in the near future, and it can be done cheaply enough.

This was my scenario last year. Weld repair for £100 or so was enough to pass MOT, but within 6 months, the exhaust was leaking again in a different place, then quite recently, it completely split in 2 at the Y section before the rear silencers.

For the past month or so, I had been driving around making a horrible droney sound with the RH silencer bring held up with zip-ties, to avoid it dragging on the ground.

I considered an off-the-shelf aftermarket sports exhaust (HKS etc), to replace the rear section but I didn't want to alter the car's appearance too much - the tailpipes on HKS system are pretty huge, meanwhile on those cheap eBay systems, its the opposite; the tailpipes are tiny and look stupid.

So, I visited a local stainless specialist for an inspection/quote and was immediately concerned at the vendor's initial response - "a Lexus? You better f***ing sit down!". Then, once the car was on the ramp, it was pointed out that along with the broken rear section, the exhaust was also leaking at the front, just after the O2 sensor. The guy actually seemed surprised that it hadn't produced a Check VSC message on the dashboard.

I was told the leak at the front could be repaired, if required, but it would be something of a false economy and just delaying the inevitable, so I agreed that, since the car is a keeper, a full system from downpipes back would be the best approach.

After an anxious wait while the dude tapped away on a calculator, I recieved the quote - £1200 (£1K+VAT), which was a lot, but not as high as I had been prepared for. I reckon I would've said yes to anything up to circa £1500.

It was fitted last week and I'm very pleased with the outcome. I requested OEM-look tailpipes, with a slightly sportier sound than stock, and they nailed it. Normal "silent" Lexus sound was also a possibility, if desired.

TL;DR: Full stainless system for £1200. If the car is a keeper, I'd recommend this option.

T man 545645 · August 23

Thanks for the info, very helpful. If the mechanic says no to welding i will know why now.

Mrs is gunning for the car to go - if i get a £700 bill it might be curtains.

Shame as i wanted to keep it till its 18th birthday in November at least.

T man 545645 · August 26

Went for a cycle yesterday, took the hatchback as i needed to drive to the start of the event and easier to chuck the cycle in then faff with a bike rack on the lexus.

Mrs went out in the is250 and this is how it ended......

T man 545645 · August 26

Still not sure how it ended like this but a couple of hours later i jacked the car up and cut the rubber holding the exhaust backbox and then drove it to the mechanics.

Linas.P · August 26

That is quite typical, I had exactly the same thing, just without damage to the bumper. In my case it was less of the rust issue, perhaps there was small hole near the weld, but it was just stress crack slowly propagating around the weld.

Damage to the bumper is also minimal - use hot air gun and just bend it back to shape.

J Henderson · August 26

Ouch. I feared something like that would happen to me, but luckily my exhaust split further up, with a good length of pipe still attached in front of the silencer. Meaning the broken piece was probably too large to flip end-over-end like that.

McShmoopy · August 26

3 hours ago, T man 545645 said:

Went for a cycle yesterday, took the hatchback as i needed to drive to the start of the event and easier to chuck the cycle in then faff with a bike rack on the lexus.

Mrs went out in the is250 and this is how it ended......

Aahhh sorry this happened to you bud, same thing happened to me although I was lucky and got away with a very superficial scratch on the rear bumper after going over a bump. Luckily rear silver bumpers will be a dime a dozen on eBay or Facebook marketplace so after the exhaust it should be an easy fix.

When my exhaust failed I had just the blackbox sections changed at first only for a day or two later my mid pipe also to fall apart. The mechanic was a family friend who changed it for me for pennies but he did say when you disturb exhausts this far along its all bound to fall apart so it may be more sensible to get the entire exhaust changed at once. This eBay one has good recommendations

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234890664854?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D272231%2C272233%2C272235%26meid%3D6f6e446bd3e04eb8a09a5cde569a226b%26pid%3D101959%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D234890664854%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2WithMLRV6RankerPricelessTop30Features%26brand%3DBM%2BCatalysts&_trksid=p4375194.c101959.m146925&_trkparms=parentrq%3A8f5b43671910a8d708ae3476fffe289e|pageci%3Af085e760-63c1-11ef-a580-ba2ab262449c|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage

H3XME · August 28

On 8/26/2024 at 1:31 PM, T man 545645 said:

Still not sure how it ended like this but a couple of hours later i jacked the car up and cut the rubber holding the exhaust backbox and then drove it to the mechanics.

This is a common area of rust on the backboxes. Same thing happened to my dad's facelift, minus the damage. I took it to the shops, got back and maybe 10s before I pulled in front of our gate the rear box collapsed in the same spot as yours. They couldn't weld it back together because there wasn't enough meat to weld on to. It cracked right where the pipe connects to the backbox. These cars smoke a lot when its colder outside. The OEM backboxes are a bit of sh|tty design as they hold a lot of water/condensation. I mustve drained a pint from the muffler when it broke off in front the house. lol

MrTrendizzle · August 28

3 hours ago, H3XME said:

This is a common area of rust on the backboxes. Same thing happened to my dad's facelift, minus the damage. I took it to the shops, got back and maybe 10s before I pulled in front of our gate the rear box collapsed in the same spot as yours. They couldn't weld it back together because there wasn't enough meat to weld on to. It cracked right where the pipe connects to the backbox. These cars smoke a lot when its colder outside. The OEM backboxes are a bit of sh|tty design as they hold a lot of water/condensation. I mustve drained a pint from the muffler when it broke off in front the house. lol

My back box fell off in the exact same place a few months back. I inserted some mild steel tubing maybe 1/2 inch in to the backbox and welded it up. Cut off 1 inch worth of pipe and welded the fresh unrusted pipe to the mild steel. Please ignore my lack of welding skill. The grinder and can of paint makes me the welder i'm not.

T man 545645 · August 28

Hi

Does anyone know what part number the rubbers are that attach to the backbox? As I cut them, I need to buy two new ones. If anyone knows the part number and where I can get them (or is it just the dealer?).

Help appreciated as always.

J Henderson · August 28

17508-31101 is the part number for the driver's side hanger, complete with both rubbers.

It doesn't appear as though you can buy the rubber parts separately, at least not from Lexus.

They don't look anything special though, just your typical oval-shaped effort with 2 holes. You should be able to get something similar from local motor factors, eBay or whatever.

T man 545645 · August 29

does this look like the right part:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186615707647?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=juQF56cbRiS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=mb2445tzRCO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

H3XME · August 30

17 hours ago, T man 545645 said:

does this look like the right part:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186615707647?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=juQF56cbRiS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=mb2445tzRCO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

There is many different hangers out there. Different shapes and sizes. They are universal to an extent, but the best thing to do is to remove one from the other side, take it to your local car parts shop (not halfords) and get one like it. Saves you the hassle of guessing the size, returning the parcels if it's ordered online etc.