My Exhaust is full of Water !! - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

IvanDias · 11th November 2001, 19:50

Hi guys,

This exhaust, from my 535i, is full of water.

http://www.abcwarrior.com/exhaust.htm

It`s been off the car for a few months whilst the rest of the repair was done, and muggins here forgot to block the manifold end, and it filled with rainwater.

I`ve undone it halfway along, and the manifold end is now empty and OK, but the rear box and middle box is one section.

When you up-end it, you can hear water moving around inside.
No water will pour out of the tailpipe end

, but turning it up the down allows a small splash of dirty water from the middle section end.

However, there is still loads in there, and I don`t know what the inside of the big box at the rear looks like when opened

Has anyone got any ideas about what the final silencer looks like when opened, or a picture? Then I could work out how to tip it to empty it.

I could drill it, but that is extreme, and aren`t they double skinned, making repair difficult.

Thanks,

Ivan.

PS. The hammer in the picture was not involved in any way in the disassembly of the exhaust system.

PPS. I may post a movie with sound of this car fired up. The exhaust on it is only 3ft long (mainfold and first silencer) and it sounds like a WW2 Spitfire

mikek · 11th November 2001, 20:15

Ivan,

Can you not heat the exhaust up to evaparate the water?? Maybe a blow lamp?? or what about fitting it and running the engine? Would that not heat the water up enough to evaperate it?

Have fun

Regards

Mike K

Andy G · 12th November 2001, 12:36

if you refitted it, would running the engine blow a lot out the back, and then as it heated, evaporate the rest?
I imaging a nice six pot would sound excellent with a pipe of 3ft, I had an old TR4, and I ran it for a while with no silencer, just a cherry bomb style back box, and for a 4 pot it sounded allright, but the police weren't too keen.

IvanDias · 12th November 2001, 13:27

Car won`t start with the exhaust fitted.

I suppose I`ll have to find a way of heating it up.

tfung · 12th November 2001, 14:00

I would imagine there should be steel wool inside the mufflers for sound baffling.... maybe that could be holding in the water?

maybe it's time to get an aftermarket exhaust?

don't think they're that expensive now...

IvanDias · 12th November 2001, 15:09

But....

I need the old exhaust on to allow me to take it to a garage to MOT and check the wheel alignments.

If the chassis is bent, then I`ve wasted the money on the new exhaust, as it would be a 535i one and won`t fit my M5.

Arrrgghhhhh !!

Water can clearly be heard dripping/dropping/slopping around, so I don`t think it is wire wool, I think there are angled baffles, which is why I need a picture or plan of the inside, so I can work out how to move it to pour it out !!.

tfung · 12th November 2001, 16:05

Well, I looked up the BMW ETK CD to see if they had a diagram.. alas they don't... but it seems like you can disassemble the rear muffler from the rest of the system... it shows on the ETK it's held together by some kind of clamp. Doesn't say if it's welded or not.. But maybe you can remove the rear muffler and go from there?

mikek · 12th November 2001, 21:31

tfung,

That joint between the centre and rear boxes is a welded one!!

mikek · 12th November 2001, 21:34

Ivan,

What about trying to blow compressed air into the exhaust. Even if it doesn't blow the water out it will soon dry it up!

~Regards

Mike K

Nene · 12th November 2001, 22:40

Ivan-
The only other trick I can think of would be to fit your water filled system on the car really loosely at the center resonator. If you say the car won't start with the system bolted up, it's most likely due to excessive back pressure. But maybe just having it fit as loosely as possible on there will let it leak enough to where you can get it started and hence, heated up and dispell some of that water trapped in there. Just a last resort thought. Other than that, go to the junk yard and see if you can find a used one cheap.

Best of luck,
Nene