2001 Corolla Exhaust Price At Dealer

[dvdmeister]

Hi all,

Well the back section of my exhaust is slowly dying a death - since I only bought it in January and have done less than 1500 miles since then, I'm a bit peeved, but I guess when the dealer who sold it to me had the MOT done it was OK or it wouldnt have passed. I doubt I'd have any luck getting them to cough up for it anyway :(

So how much is a dealer going to charge me for changing either the rear muffler section, or the whole system? Since I've got a Toyota warranty on the car, I don't know whether they would get ubiky if I didn't get them to fit it - anybody know?

I think theres a hole on the bottom of the pipe going into the muffler just before the pipe is bent across to go into the muffler, at the end of the long straight section of pipe coming from the front muffler. This bit of the pipe seems to be a 'low spot' which I guess is why its corroded :( The muffler has a few black spots on it too, which I expect are where its been leaking from.

Bah! Now the passenger side front electric window has started making a knocking sound when you put it up or down, and there is a buzzing sound from that door when you are driving along, so another thing to add to the list of things to get checked! That had better be covered by the warranty :P

Cheers

Alex

[Twincam.GTi]

Right the easy bit first: if you bought your toyota from a Toyota dealer I can assure you the 'Window' and 'door' problem is covered by the warranty :)

Now for the main exhaust bit:

I presume that your car is an AE111 'facelift model' (2001 model), if it is the hatch back/3dr variant then i know for certain that the Backbox/ rear silencer is not a seperate item. Unfortunately you will have to have a complete system which includes the centre box and pipe as well (but don't worry not the 'cat'). They did this system as one piece with no 'join' to the rear pipe section. I myself have checked into this 'cause I have a 98 AE111 (earlier 'bug eye') 3dr hatch and it is still on the original exhaust system and naturally due to age I thought the exhaust is bound to blow soon. So I;ve been checking myself how the system fits.

Incidently an aftermarket patern part exhaust will not affect your Toyota warranty.

[dvdmeister]

Thanks for the info - I wondered about the window/door thing because in the warranty stuff it says that "Window and door lock adjustments" are not covered, but since its a fault/defect of some sort and not something I've done I hope there will be no problems. I don't know whether you were speaking from experience of being in a similar situation regarding having some window/door fault!

As for the exhaust, I'm 99% sure its the original one on my car, and since the car is just about exactly 4 years old, I guess its done reasonably well (but not as well as yours!). I'll phone the warranty people to double check about having someone non-Toyota put on a non-Toyota exhaust - On the Toyota website, in the cleverly hidden FAQ section it has this:

Q. Will my warranty be valid, if I choose to have my vehicle serviced by a non authorised Centre?

    

  Yes, providing the recommended servicing schedule has been adhered to and genuine Toyota parts have been fitted. However, please remember, Toyota Centre's don't just carry out maintenance work on your vehicle, they perform Health and Safety Services too. Our Sevice Outlet technicians are specially trained to do this through our own certified Technician Training. What's more, they are always kept up to date with latest servicing information, technical bulletins, and training courses.

but no-where else in the warranty docs I have does it mention anything about this restriction. I'm not sure also A: how much more a Toyota exhaust would be than any pattern part replacement and B: whether a Toyota exhaust would last better.

BTW you are right that my car is a facelift version of the frog eye model, so I guess that means the whole exhaust will be going in the bin! Did you by any chance ever get as far as costing a new exhaust for your car? I'm guessing it will be at least £150 from Toyota :(

[dvdmeister]

Hmmm now im suspicious! When I got out of the car today, I did a quick look underneath and spotted that the CAT and its short length of pipe that joins the CAT to the front silencer of the exhaust, looks in much rougher condition than the remainder of the exhaust (from the CAT back) - like its been on there a lot longer. Is this normal (different material used for CAT casing and exhaust) or has someone replaced the exhaust before??

If its been replaced already then I'm a bit concerned, since the cars only done 30k!! Shall have to see what my local dealer reckons I spose. Don't suppose anyone knows if Toyota give any kind of guarantee on their genuine exhausts (like a 2yr or something)?

Cheers

Alex

[Twincam.GTi]

dvdmeister  Today, 05:07 PM Post #4 

I did a quick look underneath and spotted that the CAT and its short length of pipe that joins the CAT to the front silencer of the exhaust, looks in much rougher condition than the remainder of the exhaust (from the CAT back) - like its been on there a lot longer. Is this normal 

When the exhaust is replaced they have to cut the pipe between the first silencer and CAT so in effect will be replacing that pipe area as well.

Price believe it or not I have not checked recently although 3 years ago a 'Kwik fit type centre' said the full system would be £115 (but not CAT) but vehicle was newer then so may have come down a bit.

[dvdmeister]

I guess it hasn't been replaced in that case! I have to say though, that the pipe that runs from the CAT to the first silencer is exactly the same colour as the CAT casing itself (kind of like what old cast iron exhaust manifolds look like after a few years), but that section of pipe looks like it fits over a stub pipe on the front side of the front silencer. The pipe looks wider if you get what I mean.

Anyhow, I've booked a free "health and safety" check thingy at my local dealer in Twickenham, and the lady said they would have it up on the ramp and check it over to see if it was necessary to replace it and then give me the price for doing it so I can decide whether to have it done with them or not. I think if they only find the hole that I already know about, and its gonna cost me £150+ to have a new one, then I'll just buy some of that exhaust repair paste and bung that into the little hole and see how long that lasts - the hole where it is presents no real safety danger and I'm buggered if I'm replacing the whole thing for the sake of a hole thats less than the diameter of a small pen! :D

Thanks for your help Twincam.GTi - I'll post again once I've got the garages verdict on Monday

Cheers

Alex