I was cleaning my exhaust tips when one of them started to move a bit. After looking under there, I found this. Both sides are like that. Is it supposed to be in the hole? One side doesn't move even though it's not in the hole.
How, or why would they both be out if the hole?

 

Yes. It is suppose to be in the center of the hanger.

 

Did you buy the car used? The exhausts would have to be physically moved to get them out of those hangers. If they were moved by something they hit they would be dented all over.

 

I bought it 2 weeks ago from the Infiniti dealer with 28k miles on it. Not sure how they would have missed that. They showed me a sheet of all the preventive maintenance they did on the car (brake stuff, diff fluid, trans fluid replace). I wonder how this wasn't noticed.

I'll look for dents tomorrow.

Curious...how can I get them back in those holes? Will the rubber flex enough, or does something need to be unbolted?
I may just let Infiniti deal with it if it's more than pulling the rubber back over that stud on the muffler.

 

You'll have to take the two nuts that hold each hanger off and then put the spindle back through the center hole and then reattach the hanger to the car.

 

The original owner may have had an aftermarket exhaust (or axle back) - then when he traded it in/end of lease, someone hastily re-installed the factory mufflers...

As was mentioned above - the correct (and maybe only?) way is to remove the 2 bolts holding the hanger in place - correctly place the spindle in the rubber hole - then re-install the hanger.

 

Thanks for the replies. I may play with this throughout the week...if only it didn't get dark so early. I'll scope out the bolts I need to remove during my lunch break today while I still have light and it may be easy enough with a lantern to do one night this week.

Once I have that bracket off, what should I expect? I don't suppose the muffler will want to hit the ground right? There's a support on a pipe further down towards the hood which should hold it up. Any issues with letting that clamp do the work, or should I support the muffler underneath with something?

EDIT:

Also, what should I expect with regards to putting the stud back into the hole? Will it be a VERY tight fit? I wonder if that's why they didn't do it...maybe they just wanted to be done with it.

 

Just be careful when tightening the nuts back down. I would recommend doing it with a wrench by hand. My mechanic broke one of the studs when he was putting the nuts back on by using a power drill and I had to have the dealership weld the bracket on.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll know to be gentle. It looks like those bolts are part of another piece that bolts on...if I screw anything up, can I just buy that piece, or is welding a requirement?

Also, I noticed that both of the brackets has FR with an arrow pointing towards the front of the car. Are those brackets on in the correct orientation?

 

I believe, and I may be wrong, that the studs are welded on on the opposite side of the body panel, I'm not entirely sure. My dealership decided that welding the hanger back on would be the most efficient way to ensure it doesn't come loose again.

If you look at both the left and right side where the hanger sits on the studs you'll notice that the body panel that the studs protrude from are not made the same. One side (I believe the right side) has a bolt that you can take off and you might be able to access the back side of the stud, but the other side is completely different. There isn't a bolt that can be taken off, and I'm not sure if you can access the back of the stud easily. I had a picture of both sides, I'll see if I can find them.

Here's the broken stud.


Edit: I must have deleted the pictures to try to make room for the IOS 8 download on my iPhone... You'll see what I'm talking about when you get underneath the car.

 

A little soap and water in the holes and you should be golden. Expect resistance but be the Borg -- "resistance is futile".

 

I'll be letting the dealer handle this. One of the nuts was rusted to the point where the 12mm socket stripped the outside of the nut.
I'd like to get all 4 nuts replaced. I couldn't find a part number for those nuts on a parts diagram, it only showed the major components.
Anyone got a part number?


EDIT:

I've determined that the stud is probably close to 5/16 as I have a 5/16 nut here, but it won't thread. So I've concluded that it's probably metric (but doesn't have to be I guess) and also the thread pitch is finer than the 5/16 nut I have. 8mm is the closest metric, so can anyone confirm this as well?

I still haven't given up on fixing this myself yet.

 

take back and ask them how the hell something like this made it through inspection. im sure the tip is visibly out of alignment, and probably makes a good amount of noise when the car is on.

 

I emailed the sales manager those pics and asked him how his service department could miss that. I mentioned how I was disappointed in the service I had received.

I bought some socket set by Irwin that lets you remove rounded nuts and bolts. I also found some flange nuts from Lowe's that fit perfectly.

The whole job took me 50 minutes start to finish (including cleanup). It's confirmed that it's a metric 8mm with 1.25 thread pitch, abbreviated M8 x 1.25. Now I have nice shiny nuts holding that bracket on.

Thanks for all the info to everyone.

 

Glad to hear it worked out, did you get a reply from your email?
Probably rides a bit quieter I'd imagine.