Can someone please check something for me...

[gregtay]

If you have a 4th gen v8 and you have a sec.. (and don;t mind getting a little dirty).. can you crawl under the back of your Rnr and check the exhaust pipe where it passes above the rear axle/crossbeam. Mine is 'dented' on top.. i was told by my dealer that is was "damage" and needs to be replaced. I crawled under there and took a look... it actually looks like Toyota flattens the pipe a little to increase the clearance from the axle. So if someone can check to see if this "crease" is indeed normal... i'd be very greatful!.... and i will be a little pissed. I spent $700 on a new Borla system because i thought i needed a new exhuast system (it is currently in the mail to me).. but now.. i don;t think i need anything at all!!!.... so i migth be selling a brand new never used Borla system for cheap... we'll see.

 

[CMiYC]

I have a 2004 and I found a dent/flat spot where you described.

I couldn't see it but I could feel it. It felt rectangular. (Mind you, I just ran my finger across it. The pipe is definently not entirely round.)

 

[gregtay]

Super, Thanks!

 

[Good Times]

btw if there is any damage to your exhaust, it's warrantied. make em fix it if they claim it's broken.

 

[gregtay]

Does that count a dented cross pipe... due to hitting a rock? (The cross pipe that connects the left and right exhaust manafolds.. between the series of cats.)... I hit it pretty good and my cel light come on.. indicating blockage in the exhaust pipe. I had to pay $386 to get it fixed... should this have been warrenty work? If the skid plat wasn;t plastic i would have protected my exhaust.. .. i thinki it is time for some real skid plates!

 

[Good Times]

Does that count a dented cross pipe... due to hitting a rock? (The cross pipe that connects the left and right exhaust manafolds.. between the series of cats.)... I hit it pretty good and my cel light come on.. indicating blockage in the exhaust pipe.

How hard did you hit that piece? I mean you really got smack it pretty darn hard to crush that piece.

I've hit that piece as the standard skid does not protect that spot and have not dented the cross pipe to the point that it doesn't work anymore. I'm just curious on why your check engine light came on (btw that is what you're talking about right?) Keep in mind i've really torn up my belly alot and these exhaust pipes are pretty strong.

if ya got some photos, that'd be great to get a better idea of what was wrong. Plus i'd like to see carnage that crazy!

Btw, the only skid plates that'll protect everything all the way back to the mid-section cross member would be AZrain's new skid plate for the 4th gen. I'm not sure what his plans are on his skid design but hopefully I can get more info out of him when I see him in 3 weeks.

 

[gregtay]

I wish i had my camera today when it was up on the lift.. unfortunatly i didn't so no photos. Yeap.. it is the pipe that crosses just behind the oil pan and is not protected. I must have hit it pretty hard... the thing had a decent sized dent! Looks like i bounced and landed on a rock with the thing (which i didn't.. because i always go very slow (crawl!).. when things get rough.

The CEL like came on and threw some emmisions codes. Basically the initial cat on for the left side of the exhaust was indicating that there was a blockage in the exhaust (basically.. it couldn;t get teh air moving along fast enough to be effective)

 

[Good Times]

Wow you really must have hit that thing really really hard because I think those tubes are 2". I'm definitely curious to which codes went flying off as I'd definitely like to look into that one. (Always fun to find weird codes and learn from it). I've crushed my exhaust (tail pipe) to the point where my exhaust was whistling (literally!). It literally look like a letter "C" after I went thru a nasty section but my truck never threw any codes. The exhaust had to be rounded out by a crow bar

Anyway back to what your originally wrote, a new exhaust system won't resolve this issue because what you hit was part of the headers (which nobody makes). The cat back exhaust starts right where your transfer case is located (which is about 16" behind the spot you smacked your pipe).

I'll go underneath my 4runner and take some photos to show you what I"m taking about. Will post up photos later today.

 

[gregtay]

YEah... i am now aware that this is before the cat. Originally the service writer todl me it was behind teh cat... she was wrong. So i have a nice Borla system on teh way that i really don;t want (mainly because it is $700 i don't need to spend!).. and I had teh dealer fix my smashed pipe yesterday (for about $400!) OOUCH! I would have done it myself.. but i don;t have an impact wrench and i figued the bolts on the exhaust might be really hard to work with. Anyway... we are back up and running. and i really didn;t hit it that hard. I was on some roads that i know really well (but always with the 3rd gen(and I can;t remember hitting a single rock over the years!)... but my 4th gen is so much lower.. guess i am learning. who knows. I might have just had a week pipe... but proving that now rather impossible. Truth is.. it did get hit by a rock... that rock damaged that pipe (wish i had a photo for ya.)

 

[Good Times]

Here's some photos I just took. Tell me where you had your bang up so I can see. You can just photochop my photo by circling the exact damaged location.

If you look at my header pipe, it's abit scathed but I'm suspecting this is nothing compared to what you experienced. If that's what you hit, I'm very surprised you didn't break anything else. The thing is that right behind that is the tranny pan (look closely and you'll see mine is dented). I dented mine hard enough that I had to bang out the indention as well as fix my tranny. Good thing you didn't break that piece ($$$ and 400$ is nothing).

None the less, if you plan to do any aggressive offroading, look into a beefy skid plate. I do recommend the AZrain Skid that I just picked up (I'll see what the deal is on whether or not it'll see production).

 

[gregtay]

I'll PS the first photo to show you where the damage was... it was the cross pipe that you mentioned. No damamge to the tranny (thankfully!) I will try to get this posted soon.