My Exhaust trim has fallen off...

So I go to get in the car and think, my exhaust is at the wrong angle, like the trim was twisted round a bit. I go to twist it and it was so loose it just slid off in my hand. The bolt that should hold the nice trim in place has rusted. I'm about to have a tinker with it now. But if it's more than just the bolt that's damaged (like the threaded part of the exhaust trim the bolt screws into), is there anything I can do to get this back to life, or will I need a new one? If so, has anyone got one going for a few quid. I don't know, but I imagine them to cost a small fortune from Honda themselves.

By the way, the exhaust looks so lame without the big shiny trim on it. Seriously. I never thought I was that fussed about cosmetic touches like that, but it turns out I so am :lol: . I look at my near side exhaust and think "yeah boy" I look at my off side exhaust and think "where's my mean exhaust gone and where did that ***** exhaust come from" :lol: .

Sounds like thehead has rusted off of the bolt/rivit just get the old bit out of the exhaust (easier said then done though) and put a new one in. Give them a good clean up whilst youre at it too .

Must be all that sea air.

I dunno now. I've looked at it and it doesn't look like a bolt or anything. More like a rivet I guess. But it's rusted up pretty bad. If I'm to get it out, I'm probably going to have to drill it out. I can't see any other way. It's like it's part of the whole structure. I can't see any joints or anything. I'll have a look at the other one (the one that's still on the car) tomorrow. See what that's like. Maybe shed some light on the matter. But like so many things with the car, it looks like it's going to be something a lot more complicated than it probably should be. Will keep you posted.

Ok, so the exhaust that's still on is on solid and tight (I can't move it). The fixing is pretty rusted up, but not as bad as the one that has fallen off (obviously!). I can also make out that it is a bolt (at a glance it looks like an 8mm bolt).

So therefore the fitting for the fallen off trim is seriously rusted. I'm going to have another go this weekend, see if I can get the bolt and pop another one in, but it's not looking hopeful. Anyone got any suggestions for help with getting through the rust?

If it's rusted then all I can suggest is try and clean off the rust and see what you have left? If it's too far gone maybe create your own new bolt hole somewhere out of site?
Get a pic up of the exhaust trim and I can advise better.
It could just need rethreading with a tap and die kit if you have one?

Well I've cleaned the rust off as best I can and photo'd it, but for a long and convoluted reason that's not worth explaining I won't be able to upload the photo until next week. Anyway, there's still no moving it. I really can't tell exactly how this would have been fitted originally. It's almost like it was riveted or bolted and then a blob of welding done to hold it in place.

The whole, drill another hole and cut a thread into it is seeming like an appealing option. Although I have concerns about the bolt working loose and loosing the trim whilst driving. I mean there has to be a reason they fitted it in such an un-doable way originally :unsure: .

I'll post the pics in a few days, take it from there.

Hi Steve

I have a similar problem, I know what you're talking about.

My car is a 54 plate, and both rear boxes started blowing about a year ago (got through MOT when it was starting to happen). I lowered the exhaust (you have to pull of all the hangers back to the CAT) and I could see massive fist sized holes in the top of both rear boxes. I put it back and went to the dealer.

One box is a "spur" into the main pipe, the other box is a straight run back to the CAT. The thing is, the pice of each is the same, £113 each. The dealer wanted £323 all in to do it, so I bought them from the dealer and did it myself (saving about £100). I managed to just fit the long section into the Tourer, rear seats down angled across with front of the pipe going into the glove box (yes into the glove box). So anyone with a saloon, you cannot collect the long pipe in your car.

Also, from what I can make out, you can only get the exhaust parts for the K24 engine from a dealer.

Anyway, now to the trims. I know exactly what you mean, I bought two new set screws from the dealer for £1.46 each for the trims. Then when I managed to pull the trims off the old exhaust I discovered what you have described. They are not screws, they look like some kind of "rivet" driven through a captive "pinched" rivet nut, a bit like a pop rivet. I intend to go back to the dealer with the trims and set screws they sold me and say "what now".

By the way, those trims are about £90 each !!!

cheers, Brian

Here are pictures of the "rivet" on the trim






EDIT: I've just been to the dealer, took the trims and set screws that they sold me. Chap at service desk knows me, he was puzzled, and took the trims into the workshop to speak to their meachanics. He came back and said that they reckon is is the remnant of the set screws, so badly corroded that is no longer looks like a set screw. Captive nut is on the inside of the bar into which the set screw goes. We put one of the new chrome set screws against the remnant and they meay be right, but is has lost a huge amount of metal. I will try to drill it out and see what is there. If I am lucky (I have a 50% success rate at drilling out old set screws) then the captive nut should be visible with its thread intact. Tthe initial pilot hole has to be dead centre, then open up the hole to less than the diameter of the thread, and the remains of the screw can be removed from the nut, IME extractors never work, 0% success rate with those for me, this is the way to do it. When I have it out, I will post a new photo with the new set screw.

I bought a new exhaust trim back in late 2008 for my old Accord as it was manky, yes I was sad enough to take it off the car and put it on the new one when i sold it lol because I've kept it mint from day one!

my old one was exactly like yours, it really is a bolt, that pic there is a corroded messed up bolt tbh! my new one came with the new exhaust tip and it is a bolt... so what Honda gave you must be right!

just the old one has corroded and fallen to bits lol keep the new bolt copper greased it should be okay, I have had mine on my car for about 2 years now and its still the shape of a bolt lol copper grease it is!

thanks for the advice, I've got a can of copper spray but not grease, I'll go and get some. I'll put a pic of the trim when I've drilled out the screw ... no pic = no success

Rather than drill out the set screw, I decided to use the hacksaw/molegrip technique first ...with success !!

The thing to bear in mind is that these set screws, although they look chrome and shiny when new, are made of monkey metal. So they are easy to cut with a hacksaw, but easy to snap the head off.

First cut the head so that you will have a good grip with molegrips. I used a small junior hacksaw and just held the exhaust finisher by hand on a work surface. Hold the hacksaw at 45 degrees when making the cut, if you hold the hacksaw vertically you will not get a vertical cut into rusty monkey metal. Be patient when cutting, take time, I spent a few minutes making each cut. Here is the result:


Then put the molegrips onto the screw head, and gently rock anto-clockwise and clockwise. As the screw begins to move further anti-clockwise, keep moving back to the original position. As you get more and more movement, do not hurry, if you snap the head off you will have to drill the screw out.


Here is the offending screw next to its new replacement.


Here is the exhaust finisher with the screw removed


When you put the new screw in, be very careful not to cross-thread ... the screw and captive nut are both monkey-metal, it will be easy to cross-thread. When you get the screw started, use a spanner (8mm head) and use the same rocking technique to screw it in. Here is the finished article


This saves you £90 for a new fiinisher. Finisher is 19 here and screw is 38 here.

Blimey! You're rusted up one looks exactly the same as mine. It's hard to believe they're different exhausts. They have rusted exactly the same... Anyway, I like the look of that, I'll give it a go and get a bolt from Honda.

Stevearcade said:

Blimey! You're rusted up one looks exactly the same as mine. It's hard to believe they're different exhausts. They have rusted exactly the same... Anyway, I like the look of that, I'll give it a go and get a bolt from Honda.

Click to expand...

LOL yeah I bet it's a common problem with these finishers / trims. My wording is not quite clear on the cutting, start at 45 degrees, then as the blade "takes hold", start to move the blade to vertical while cutting. These screws really are made of money-metal, very easy to cut, but when rusty difficult to start a clean cut. Also when you start to turn with the molegrips, apply more force in the anti-clockwise direction, not much in the return clockwise direction, but never try to get a rusty screw / bolt undone in one direction until it has gone loose.

Well done brian I knew it'd be on here somewhere!
I had the molegrip idea in mind but was gonna try re-shaping the head with a small disc

But I have a horrible feeling the new ones are not gonna slide over the exhaust, I cant see properly but the inlet on new tips look exactly the same size as exhaust inside trim, well il know soon!