My EGR pipe has gone, van now sounds like a Harley!

The EGR pipe running from the EGR valve to inlet manifold on my Nissan Serena went yesterday its snapped/sheered/rusted apart, the mrs said it happened after she went over a speed bump.. ...  Now I've spoken to the dealer and they are saying 3-6weeks minimum for a new pipe as the part needs to come from Japan...

I have managed to find one on ebay from a different engine variant which I can't be 100% sure will fit but I'm going to try anyway. Its possible the new one will be too short so I was thinking of removing the bad of the existing pipe and connecting it to the new one. Is welding the only way here or is there some kind of flexible metal heat resistant pipe lagging I can use? like the previous repairs you can see in the pic? sorry I've no idea what it is or what its called..

my dad does have a welder (not sure that type) so I can call on him if I need to.

any advice guys?

cheers

pics:

find a suitable sized bit of pipe/tube and weld it in or sleeve over if you want a bit of flex you can get flexable exhaust pipe in loads of sizes but it's not flexable shapeable would be a better name don't know if they do it that small though.

Thanks mate.
This may sound really stupid but what about this stuff?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=221256059870

No thats water pipe but similar looking you would need to measure and maybe make some adaptors if you can't get the correct size but is this stuff.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/For-Webasto-24mm-Flexible-S-S-Exhaust-Pipe-1-2-mtr-/250891184032?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item3a6a47a7a0

Brill mate thanks for your help. I'll let you know how I get on.

sod welding it, use some of that pipe, two jubilee clips and some gungum exhaust paste

HighlyJetted wrote:sod welding it, use some of that pipe, two jubilee clips and some gungum exhaust paste

Your only being jealous as your crap at welding  

Very much so. I fail bigtime welding to rust or just thin metal. Give me some thick steel and I'd describe my welding as - rough hardcore deep penetration. It's not pretty but by heck is it hot

The new egr pipe from a dif model turned up today... Doesn't fit.. Pipe is thinner, it's too short and even the fittings seem smaller.. Fail.

The pipe is only about 15mm so that flexible stuff is too big too. Trying breakers but don't hold out any hope.

Will it cause any long term damage if I drive it to a garage for them to have a look?

no long term probs other than noise if it's not to far you could try a gungum exhaust bandage and sealent.

Just looking at that now, I might as well give it a go as the seller of the pipe is letting me return it.

This what you mean?
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_196275_langId_-1_categoryId_255217

Thanks

yeah that and an old tin can and a couple of jubilee clips or I just remembered I fixed the same prob on my first car a Polo with a section of oil pipe and jubilee clips however the MOT man was a friend of a friend and most testers won't pass it if the exhaust system has anything degradeable so now if I were to do the same bodge I would use some of that shitty lookalike braided hose cover, but if your dads a welder get it off and let him join it back up.

Dads too crap to weld it. I think I've found a breakers selling the pipe so I've done my first ever ghetto fix this morning!
It looks terrible but I think it might last long enough for my needs.

Its some exhaust putty from motorworld with a pepsi can, 2 hose clips and more putty on the edges...

That should do it  

lasted over 1k miles so far!

Good bodge

That's either a very small Pepsi can or a very big engine!

well after about 2000 miles its gone again! was on the motorway at the time. luckily it didn't cause any issues, just noise more than anything. good job really as we were 2 hours from home.

new pipe £57 from nissan. 3-6weeks wait time.

+ £112 if I wan't them to fit it.

never a dull moment

has the split gone further or just appeared elsewhere?

rich the mechanic wrote:has the split gone further or just appeared elsewhere?

I've not actually looked yet (its not a daily driver, literally got it home Sunday night and its been stood since)... I will have a look tonight.

The problems started when the van started to idle funny at the weekend, like up and down and the engine was shaking quite a lot. We were camping about 175mile from home.

I checked the engine bay over when it started doing the rough idle thing, The air flow sensor wasn't mucky, no obvious blockages in the air intake. I removed the air sensor and it look ok to me. There was plenty of coolant and oil. So I'm clueless as to whats up with it? Lambda sensor? any ideas mate?

Managed to get home ok although a tad sluggish and I think the extra vibrating has caused the EGR pipe to go again.

so I've basically got 2 issues, the cause of the rough idle? AND now the EGR pipe going again..

More that likely you could just bung up the threaded hole in the exhaust manifold and the fitting on the inlet manifold thus doing away with the EGR valve.

well the van has been in the garage for ages now and they fixed the EGR pipe but it was still doing the rough idle. They basically ended up changing most of the exhaust because it was "running very hot straight away"... the cat has been changed.
Anyway the idle is still rough and now they are saying they think the timing chain has slipped and they need to remove the engine for access! I very much doubt the chain has slipped.  

I've decided to give up with them and I'm picking the van up on saturday because I cannot afford for them to continue to try random things to resolve the issue which all the time is costing me money.

The engine is an SR20DE and after hours of googling I believe the rough idle could actually be caused by a common issue that is related to some Idle Air Control valve sticking..
http://www.sr20-forum.com/information-library/50162-ins-outs-stock-idle-control-system.html

anyone ever come across anything like this? I just hope I can access.. mid engined pain in the arse thing! 

I think you are doing the right thing taking your van away from there.

I don't know anything about those engines, but I would suspect you should look at regular suspects like what has been messed with, and items that may have been disturbed to gain access to the area. Stuff like MAF sensors are very delicate and can be damaged from handling. Good luck with a fix, I'm sure you'll find its something daft!

2 garages and £491 later, it was the EGR valve stuck open... blanking plate installed and its fine now apparently...
glad engine didn't need dropping anyway.

not had a great week for me though my 2006 civic was rear ended on Saturday and I'm now told its a write off!

bloody cars!