Hello, I bought an 07 TL Base AT a few months ago and while I've been doing maintenance, I noticed my flex pipe is ripped. Does anyone know the part number or proper size for the flex pipe?
I found this on Amazon and it says it fits but there are also some in different sizes that also claim to fit.
I'm very new to working on cars so I want to make sure I'm buying the right part. Gotta get this replaced asap, the leak heats up my trans and turn the cabin into a sauna (not ideal for a resident of Miami)
Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

When replacing just the flex pipe, best practice is to cut it out and go to the store and find something that matches. Usually I would get a flex pipe and some small adapter. Removing the pipe from the car is helpful, just tack weld it while on the car before taking out and welding it all the way.

But since this pipe can be unbolted, wouldn't it be easier to replace the whole j-pipe? Even if you need to cut out old bolts where it connects to the rest of the exhaust (towards the rear), front nuts usually give after heating them.

Rockauto has those pipes in ~$100 area: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...ion,pipe,10038

There are also performance versions available, but they are a bit pricey compared to rockauto.

 

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of working on cars! You'll laugh, you'll cry, but mostly you will curse and swear. Also you will gain a very rewarding and financially valuable life skill.

Step 1: Tools. Absolutely first thing is jackstands. Not negotiable. Crawling under a car held up by only the jack is serious suicide hotline time. Next is hand tools: 3/8 drive sockets to start with, plus hand wrenches, all metric. A set of small 1/4 drive sockets are very handy, as well as some big 1/2 drive impact stuff for heavy duty problems. Small battery-powered LED light with a magnetic base is awesome necessity. Finally for working on Honda/Acura a small torque wrench is also mandatory. Honda's engineering style is small, lightweight, precision fitting things that are not over-tightened or they break and you're fooked.


Step 2: workplace. Driveway is good if your weather is good, garage is best. Street is emergency only, dirt/grass are suicidally unsafe. I love my thick slab of cardboard with an old blanket duct-taped to it for under car work, 9000x better than lying on concrete.

Step 3: No band-aids! Always fix the root cause of failure. Now we dive into your specific task: flex pipe. On the 3rd generation Acura TL, the flex pipe is not a separate part. It is integrated with the J-pipe that joins the exhaust streams from the front and rear banks of the V6. The flexy part of the J-pipe exists because the motor & transmission unit are held to the car with flexible rubber mounts to isolate the driver & passengers from vibration, so as the motor moves the flex joint moves.

Stock Acura J-pipes are incredibly high quality and only break if pushed beyond their design limits... such as worn-out motor mounts allowing the motor to flex waaaayyy too far, farther than the flex portion of the J-pipe can flex without breaking. Unfortunately the motor and trans mounts are considered "wear items" like brake pads and are expected to wear out and be replaced. If you pay a muffler shop to cut out the broken flex portion and weld in a new one like that Amazon cheap-ass flex pipe - it will just rip sooner or later. Probably sooner given the growing problem of Amazon car parts becoming cheaper and worse quality nowadays.

Therefore you do not need that - you probably need a set of motor mounts and a new/used/aftermarket performance J-pipe. New J-pipes from an Acura dealer are priced like they're gold plated and diamond studded. Used J-pipes are always available for cheap because they suck. They are a known choke point in the exhaust and reduce flow. The #1 TL modification is an aftermarket performance J-pipe, but that's money and your decision. Here's a forum vendor with excellent customer service and a large selection: https://www.heeltoeauto.com/front-pipe-a-x-j-pipe/

I'm running cheap Amazon motor mounts because the shady flipper I bought the car from had to put them in - the motor rocked so far it threw check engine codes. I'm wondering how long they'll last.

Step 4: Acurazine! This forum has been active since the cars were new and has a ton of excellent advice. The search function does suck, but you can actually get decent results by using Google and adding Acurazine to the search keywords.

Good luck!

 

That's a good point. I'm gonna call the exhaust shop I planned on going to and see how much the labor is for the flex pipe. If it's around $50+ I may just replace the whole thing. I was gonna delete my mid cat at the same time but I may just save that money a little longer for now. Thanks!

 

I bought a bunch of tools before even getting the car, I bought a car, my first, ready to learn but I'm definitely gonna pick up a torque wrench and a drill with leds . I've just been doing maintenance at my apartment but one person has to complain -_-. I'm gonna double check my motor mounts on Wednesday since I'm off but I know for a fact my transmission mounts are gone. Going to order the mounts asap from a reputable vendor. If you have a suggestion or link I'd appreciate it. Thanks a lot!

 

Flexpipe + welding labor is $100+

 

www.heeltoeauto.com

They have two separate online business sides: aftermarket and Acura OEM which is everything a dealership parts dept could get.

I can vouch for their beyond-excellent customer service.

 

Acurapartsforless has the lowest price +shipping I can find for OEM parts. But they are only 2 states away from me, for you Delray Acura might be the cheapest option since your both in Florida

 

I ended up going with this j pipe from eBay recently.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/13425152399...mis&media=COPY

Only cost $107 with taxes and $120 installed + touch ups at a local shop. Fixing the hole lowered temps a lot since the hole was right under the trans, it also sounds great with my stage 3 setup. Best bang for buck here, looks much closer to oem than Walker as well.