acarapella

Hello,

Has anyone used an aftermarket y/flex pipe in an es300? Mine is an 03. The aftermarket which is 49 state legal (I'm not in Cali so it's ok) is $230. Includes the bolts and gaskets and all I need to replace mine.

Has anyone used one?

The oem is $1,400! A lexus dealer said he would try to get lexus to given me a free one on good faith cause I only have 66,000 miles, but I would have pay $500+ in labor, and get it done like next week. I'd rather safe up my money and hold off until it gets worse, and spend $230.

Can someone shed some light on this?

Thanks

hypervish

With only 66k miles, I'd try and get the OEM part if you can get it for free and just pay the labor.

Many of these aftermarket cats, will cause a P0420 or similar code for catalytic inefficiency after a short time. And, considering the car is so young and has many miles ahead of it, no point in having to do the job again in a few years due to poor emissions.

acarapella

Is that true even for the 3rd cat even though all 4 oxygen sensors are before it? They are above and below the cat on each manifold... Then there is about 30 inches of pipe before the 3rd cat

speedkar9

If its just a small hole in the flex pipe, you can wait for it to get worse.

Then have a shop cut out the old one and weld an aftermarket one in. Thats what I did on my 2005 ES.

Check out this thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...lexpipe-2.html

The dealer part is expensive because the flex pipe and rear catalytic converter are one piece, and its the cat that makes it expensive.

acarapella

That makes me think I should maybe try to get a used oem one or something. What a nightmare. I can't even weld something custom because the western new York salt will eat it (I don't have access to stainless)

The aftermarket one I am speaking of is this item number on eBay 181274674834. I am taking about an 03 es300. Has anyone used an aftermarket on my car?

And can a new flexpipe be welded in? The Y is really close To the flex pipe

speedkar9

If you look at the thread in my last post, you'll see pics of how mine was welded in. Have an exhaust shop do it for you, you definitely need a lift, a good welder, a sawzall and some patience to weld it on the car.

Its not easy, because the Y pipe is close to the flex pipe. The exhaust mount can't go around the new flex pipe because it has a slightly larger diameter.

ES300NZ

FYI: welding near O2 or fuel sensors will ruin them.

JetsonES

$230 is worth a shot. Alternatively you could try car-parts.com to see if a used one is posted, there are some deals on there sometimes.

acarapella

Thanks I'll give it a shot