'98 Intrepid donut leak fix?

[Directconnection]

I have a donut leak on the driver's side of my '98 Intrepid that has the 3.2 in it.

How the fawk do you fix this style? I see a big "band" collar that is about 3" diameter and 4" long... but there's no bolts pulling both sides together like on a traditional donut seal (2.2/2.5 and 3.0) I *think* the seal is actually made via tension of the 2 sides being pushed together via hangers preloading? I can't believe that's the answer.... but I don't see any clamps or adjustments other than that as I can literally separate the seal via hand by about 1/8th of an inch.

Any suggestions?

[RoadWarrior222]

crazy glue?

[Directconnection]

crazy glue?

I looked at CRAPA online and see they only sell the cat and pipe assembly.... for $244-300+

Ouch.... I am wondering if this collar is crimped from the factory and meant to "hold" tension w/out adjustability...

[RoadWarrior222]

You can buy split clamp flanges and sprung bolts to put around the pipes. Could run $30 worth of parts though.

---------- Post added at 10:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 PM ----------

I guess it could have had something resembling a kind of band clamp that fell off.

[Directconnection]

Hmmmm.... not sure if the "pipe" end of the connection is flanged at all to allow me to do that.... unless I weld something to it. But with my luck, I'd burn through the rusty pipe trying to make it happen....

[RoadWarrior222]

ahah, like these...
http://www.exhaustdirect.ca/SFlanges1.html

[Directconnection]

Hmmm... those might work! But... my donut seal might be fawked from slowly leaking for a year now. It got fairly bad after i was messing around with replacing the rotted muffler 2 feet downstream this past weekend...

But, I was hoping someone had an answer to how this "band collar" thing worked... or if it's crimped from the factory and you're SOL...

[135sohc]

Our Concorde is the same way. I had to drop the d-side converter/pipe section away from the engine (they were smart and used V-bands there atleast) to work on the water pipe assembly thats tucked in behind there and I did disturb that mystery joint your having trouble with. Near as I could tell its like a big ball-n-socket type joint that relies soley upon the front pipe/cat section and the pipe section behind it to press together. Looks like a one shot type deal, if its leaking your supposed to replace it... $$$$$ later

I didnt take it fully apart but I wonder if you could take it apart, clean up as best you can and take a big piece of some putty type epoxy. roll into a 'rope' and layer it inside and smoosh it all back together ? Take two saddle clamps and put on either side, and run some bailing wire back-n-forth to tie it together. I know its very tight and cozy in that area under those cars. not sure if the clamps/wire or anything external would fit though.

[Force Fed Mopar]

There is no donut there, it's just a flared pipe that fits onto the inverted cone of the manifold. Basically the same design as a V8 pipe, except it uses V-band clamps instead long bolts to tighten it. If it's leaking there, either the band has gotten weak and allowed it to come apart slightly and leak, or someone had it off before and didn't get it back on right, or something. How long has it been leaking?

[Directconnection]

There is no donut there, it's just a flared pipe that fits onto the inverted cone of the manifold. Basically the same design as a V8 pipe, except it uses V-band clamps instead long bolts to tighten it. If it's leaking there, either the band has gotten weak and allowed it to come apart slightly and leak, or someone had it off before and didn't get it back on right, or something. How long has it been leaking?

I'm talking after the cat..... there's about a foot of pipe after the cat with this joint, and from what I can see, it sure looks like a donut of sort as I can see a wee bit of it's material that appears to look a lot like the donuts we are used to.

It's been a slight leak for the past year, but this weekend it opened up some after messing with the exhaust some.

[Directconnection]

I got the car up high on a lift so I could actually see WTF is going on. It's not a donut, but a shield around what I think is a flex pipe. So now, I have to see if I can get one in that small of a diameter and replace, or simply go with a solid piece.....

[RoadWarrior222]

Ohhhhh.

You can get spherical joints to weld in instead.

[Directconnection]

Ohhhhh.

You can get spherical joints to weld in instead.

Can you elaborate? Spherical joint like the donut style?

[RoadWarrior222]

yup, like on the bottom of the page here...
http://www.exhaustdirect.ca/Accessories1.html

---------- Post added at 06:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:00 PM ----------

but they also have 4" flex pipe, so would assume that length is also available elsewhere...
http://www.exhaustdirect.ca/FlexNoNeck.html

[Directconnection]

hmmm... some cool products. That flex pipe would work! Too bad I can't get this stuff locally at NAPA, etc.... or can I?

[RoadWarrior222]

Maybe, I was just using that place for the pictures.

[Rampage16V]

this is a flex pipe with a heat shield over it. I welded it up solid a few times all you need is a good mig welder

[Directconnection]

this is a flex pipe with a heat shield over it. I welded it up solid a few times all you need is a good mig welder

You mean you cut out the flex pipe and installed a solid section and welded it in, right? No issues with engine movement at all I hope... I do see that the front of the cat looks like it has a traditional donut setup...

[Aries_Turbo]

advance autoparts carries the flex joints. i about crapped when i went in there and saw that they had a bunch of sizes on the shelf.

autozone used to carry the spherical ones but i havent checked in a while.

Brian

[Directconnection]

Thanx! I'll look into it tomorrow.