Dropped Exhaust

Heard a bit of a clonk yesterday and found my exhaust pipe resting on the rear clam cut out. It is definitely lose and resting on the rear undertray - I can see this through the rear wheel arch lining gap. It's not blowing, so I don't think the pipes have cracked or bent, I suspect it has either come off the rubber mount or the mount/bracket has failed. Is this simply a case of getting the undertray off and having a root around, if so how simple is this? Also, is this a common problem, the car has 88k on the clock and is an NA. Finally, if I can't get this done today, is it reasonably safe to drive for a few days like this? Cheers, J

As nothing is rattling, I'm going to guess its a failed hanger. Does anyone know what hanger I need for this, will hopefully get it done this evening.

Just whip the rear undertray off, its self explanatory when you look under the car...

same happened to mine, was like it for ages. It will likely be the bracket that fits on one of the bolts between the cat and backbox. The bracket is about £20 from Vauxhall but back order. I've got a spare if you want to buy it.

You may well be right kev. Wolfstone and I spent a go of hour ferreting around under the back end and found the triangular bracket that fits on the drivers side and joins on to a mount on the other side of the heat shield had sheared. It had been bogded before and there were signs of welding repairs. Ken and I did a 'racetrack' repair though that we were pretty chuffed with. If you do have a spare bracket Kev and it's the one I'm after, I'd definitely be interested. Can you pm me if so.. Thanks Kev and another very big thanks to Ken. You are a star #futurepitcrew

No problems James. Enjoyed the challenge and pretty chuffed that we managed to bodge a temporary repair. And we got to use a hammer. Bonus. ETA - beer in hand and feet up. 400 miles in the VX this weekend and it ran like a dream.

Edited by Wolfstone, 24 June 2012 - 07:33 PM.

The offending bracket. The gap at the top is where it had sheared previously, the fold at the bottom is part of the borge to get it onto the bracket and very short bolt at the bottom of the silencer.