Welding Aluminum to Steel... (1 Viewer)

[e9999]

so my wife hits something on the freeway with the Prius and there is rattling when the engine is on.
I check under and sure enough the exhaust pipe is bent and split open.
Long story but she finally goes to check an exhaust guy to see how much it would cost to fix it without going full OEM. (At least I got her to think twice about going automatically to the dealer...)
Anyway, she goes and the guy says that he can do it in 3 hours. He says he'll use aluminum. And when she asks how, he says he'll weld it to the pipe. (At least I got her to ask questions...)
He's a much better welder than I am, evidently... So I guess his charging $85 an hour for the job is cheap, considering the skills needed...

 

[Patineto]

 

[e9999]

so he gets to play with explosives under her Prius? When I tried to do that she would not let me... sheesh....

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

did the guy mean aluminized exhaust pipe? cause that is weldable...and cheap...

 

[e9999]

Yes, that would make more sense, of course. Although if the OEM pipe is SS that might still be somewhat questionable perhaps, rustable welds and all.
He did say aluminum reportedly but maybe he messed up. Or he thought that my wife would be more impressed by high tech aluminum. Regrettably, it appears that many service writers and tech types do tend to BS females much more.
How long do typical regular steel welds last on exhausts?

 

[spotcruiser]

Practically forever in California.

How long do typical regular steel welds last on exhausts?

 

[e9999]

well, I checked and the OEM exhaust pipe sticks to a magnet. It looked like Stainless to me at a casual glance but maybe it's not. Or it's a ferritic stainless. I would hope that Toyota uses SS but maybe they don't on the Prius, don't know.

 

[jblueridge]

At some point, the government has or will mandate all exhausts to be stainless. Politicians hope that slow-rusting pipes will negate the need to have custom systems made up without catalytic converters.