I welded up my exhaust but I am having problems with small pin holes and leaks that appear to be seeping out from under the welds. Any wisedom on how to weld these better so there are no leaks?

I am using a spray bottle to squirt water on the weld and I can see it leaking through. I imagine once the exhuast runs through it they can be very detrimental. A lot of little holes can add up to one big hole.

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87 Fiero GT (3.2 Turbo)
E-mail: davidfiero@hotmail.com
www.angelfire.com/pa5/davidfiero/

i'm not an expert welder by any means, but when i'm welding exhaust components if i notice gaps or pin holes in the welds i'll crank the power up on the MIG welder and get a little deeper penetration. HTH...

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Eric
'87 GT Gold/Tan 4-speed
Soon to be a bottle fed T-top

SAVE THE SHAUN!!!

You should not really try this, except in a cashflow emergency!! Due to the amount of water generated by the IC engine, the rust always comes through from the inside of the system than from the outside.. so what looks like a pinhole in the original metal, is in fact just the thinnest part of a badly oxidised sheet of steel!! If you are trying to repair a box, it is always better to wrap a sheet of 0.8mm steel around the whole box, and then weld the one seam,which is easy because it is new steel, and then run weld all around the ends to the folded-over original joint, which is also pretty thick.You would also probably find, if you opened up the muffler, that most of the innards would have rotted, and were serving no purpose at all!!
fierofetish

what about pinhole leaks in the manifolds?

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'86 Fiero GT

www.KylesFiero.tk
www.XoticRydz.tk

this is a fabricated exhuast, not a rusted out stock one...

Basic welding techniques, that's what it sounds like you need some more practice with. If you have your machine setting correct AND the metal parts properly fitted and cleaned the parts should weld together nicely. It sounds like your settings or technique are off. Are you using wire with gas? Fluxcore? Stick? What kind of steel is the exhaust fabricated from?

JazzMan

I am using a fluxcore with regular aluminized steel tubing (I think). The fittings are good, but the leaks appear to be coming from under the weld. Nothing major but on certain points. I was amazed when I sprayed water in there to see this. Just small little leaks.

If I turn up the amperage I fear burning holes. And, I have resorted to welding over where I have welded before which is beginning to look messy. Something I did not want.

just grind the welds down and weld over them again....thats what i would do

Coinball's right grind them down and weld over them. It sounds to me you may be feeding too much wire or not enough heat. Welding exhaust is difficult due the thin metal. Practice practice practice. You need to see the actual metal melt before moving on with out this happening you'll just be laying blobs on top of the metal and not Bonding them, this will cause leaks to show up and eventually fail.

I'm not an expert welder by any means so if I get pin holes after the 2nd try, out comes the JB.

quote Originally posted by coinball: i'm not an expert welder by any means, but when i'm welding exhaust components if i notice gaps or pin holes in the welds i'll crank the power up on the MIG welder and get a little deeper penetration. HTH...