Exaust Pipe Cracking

[Ghost_Bullet]

I was doing a clean and investigation today, and noticed air coming out where it should not, and picked up a rather nasty looking crack. I was going to leave it until after a rally this coming weekend, but the better go to me, and decided to remove the pipe. And I am glad i have. I will be taking it somewhere tomorrow, with the hope it can be welded cl,osed without any issues. It is at the tight bend and at the first point after the header's where the pipe is conected to the frame.

I am sure I have seen this before in previous forums.
the bike has done well over 40,000km on the clock now. stuff has to deteriorate with time one would guess.
Click on images to see bigger

 

[Will]

I had severe cracks/splits in much the same place. Fortunately the Griso was still on warranty but Guzzi UK were truly appalling at getting it sorted out. Despite the dealers telling them it was 100% knackered they demanded photographic evidence of the crack.....which they then lost so it had to be sent again. They then lost the whole warranty claim when they changed their computer systems. It was only sorted out when someone from MG UK HQ visited the dealership and was confronted with the whole sorry story & embarrassed into taking action. In all it took almost 3 months to get it sorted, luckily thru' the winter when I was riding my winter hack not the Griso. I'm glad to say through out the episode the dealers were very supportive but Guzzi's attitude and incompetence was enough to make me consider taking legal action........and all over something that could have been fixed in a couple of hours by a competent welder. However, trying to look on the bright side, I am glad it was the pipe that fractured not the bracket on the frame which apparently happened on some early Griso's.

 

[Penis Rotor]

Early Gris? Tech update/recall call it what you will. If bike is reaonably *new* as in not out of warranty there is a factory *fix* involving an additional bracket. If your dealer is worth a cracker he can trawl back through ServiceMotoGuzzi and find it. If it is an older bike and has just cracked? Get it welded! Not hard really.

Pete

 

[Ghost_Bullet]

Cheers I am not not to fussed taking the time to go through to many people right now, we shall have to repaired, I am almost a year outside the warrenty to date, and am very happy with the bikes performance to date.

Will post a pic of the fix. And will review how it holds up, worst come to worst we shall just replace the section later down the track.

 

[double.d]

That happened to mine. Had a new one within 2 weeks. I wanted to keep the old one and fix it up as a spare but the importer wanted it back ?.

 

[Papasloan]

That is a different place for cracks than I have seen. Usually they will crack where the connectors are welded on. I have also seen 2 different offsets to the muffler with the same Guzzi number on both of the crossovers. Quality control I guess. Good luck

 

[Ghost_Bullet]

Good news, all sorted, cleaned and re-intsalled onto the bike, the job in my opinion was pretty clean and tidy. Good that it is hiden under the bike. Cost $NZ65.00. Looking forward to geting away at the weekendin for a rally.... Yay!!!! i

The whole pipe is one whoping thing though... even pushing the bike around with out the whoole system on, ya can sure feel the lightness of it.

 

[Steak]

Re:Exhaust Pipe Cracking

How many miles until some of you Griso owners are seeing the cracking issue? I had about 9850 on my '07 Griso before it went tits up. About 9500 of those miles were on a ceramic coated exhaust system. I never had any cracking around any of the bends/welds. I don't know if the ceramic coating has any real protective value in this regard, but the vendors of the process claim that it does.

A possible preventative solution?

SD

 

[double.d]

I don't remember how many k's i had up, i reckon it was due to the whole system having to much tension as the bracket mounting point on the Lavizzari's also broke. The new part i got was exactly the same as the original and all i did was fit it with no tension and no problems since.

 

[zedo]

add me as another who had to have the lower part replaced under warranty due to a crack.. Was replaced fairly quickly. At the time I asked my dealer if jet-hot would void the warranty and the reply was yes. In fact they recommended that I did not do it as they may not honor any potential problems including engine work.

that's the only thing keeping me from sending my header to jet-hot

zed

 

[Ghost_Bullet]

Since then, I have repaired/had re welded the bracket back onto the mid point of the pipe where it mounts to the frame... and now just on 2000km later it has broken again... anyone had any issues similer, and what would be negatives in just removing the bracket and allowing the pipe just to be fixed at the header and where the pipe bolts on at the rear?

Cheers

 

[goozy]

When I first got my 07 Griso in 09 I removed the can to see what it sounded like(educational purpose only) When the bolts came out of the mounting bracket there was a loud "clank" from under the bike, I had a peek but didn't see any thing amiss. Then when putting the can back on no way in hell the holes were going to line up without putting most of my weight on the exhaust end of the can.

So I figured that the whole system was very stressed, and when I relived the stress it sprang (sprung?) to where it wanted to be! Soooo out comes the file and the mount hole becomes elongated to line up properly!

20000+ KM and no cracks yet.

Peter

 

[GTM®]

If you have a stock muffler, I'd say it's required. If aftermarket, not necessary.

 

[Ghost_Bullet]

I have the mistral carbon cone... devine it is... and very light. [youtube]gfcTi7lgE3o[/youtube] My next trip away is approx a 600km round trip, might just remove the bracket bolted to the frame area, and see what happens.

 

[Charlie J]

I have 2 "Y" pipes,and both have cracked several times. Neither have cracked the actual mounting bracket itself. For this bracket to crack there is substantial force required. In my case I believe the frame lug is out of whack,so I stopped using it. If you disturb the exhaust system,line everything up so it is not stressed,retighten from the headers back,and if you remove the headers always replace the anti vibration washers at the header clamps,4 off. These are called "schnoor" washers and are the same animal as the flywheel to crankshaft washers.Todd offers a "crackproof" Y pipe that certainly looks the business,and is reasonably priced. I made my own "Y" pipe and muffler as well,but then I had to modify my workstand to suit....... The joys of motorcycling!!!!

 

[Spaceclam]

The pipes crack because A; they are constructed of a poor grade of stainless for this application (ferritic, and work hardening, which is bad for high heat applications, especially with repeated and rapid heating and cooling) and b, the welds near the bracket were made far too hot (poor welding technique), resulting in chromium carbide forming in the weld zone, making it extremely brittle. Stainless, in it's annealed condition should be EXTREMELY ductile.

Even if you weld it up, it will crack again due to the grade of stainless used, and the chromium carbide already present in the weld. The combination of brittleness and repeated vibration will cause failure.

I was denied warranty for that part, and I had the same experience where after it sprung, i couldn't put the parts back together again, due to the extreme stress it was under. I welded it again and it just cracked somewhere else

I just bought todd's y-pipe and called it a day.