Just bought an 05 civic. Took to my mechanic he said whoever had it put an aftermarket exhaust on it and it has a bunch of exhaust leaks. He suggests buying a whole new exhaust and that's looking like around 2 grand. Maybe another aftermarket one would do? Can I drive it without doing damage to the car? I drove it around the neighborhood and it seemed really hot under the hood. No smoke or nothing but definitely loud when accelerating. Any insight would be helpful as I know nothing about this crap.

 

This crap?? Really??
You know nothing about this crap, so it looks like you're going to pay someone to fix it for you
Cause there is nothing I can say to help since you have no idea what I would be talking about.

 

welcome to the forum go to the salvage yard and find a like make and replace, or go to ebay and buy an after market for cheaper, salvage yard you can practice to take apart so you can put it together yourself.

 

Thank you. Didn't even think about a scrap yard. Could driving with leaks do damage to something else or would the exhaust just get worse?

And guess I should rephrase that. I do basic repairs and changes. I've never had to deal with the exhaust system. Thanks for your input as well!

 

The exhaust system not only handles the exhaust emissions and quiets the output from the engine
It also provides back pressure that actually helps the engine run more efficiently.
Short term is not much damage will happen.
Long term .,.. I've never let go long term.

 

driving with exhaust leaks can put you to sleep while driving, if you have heat tape you might be able to tape the leaks temp or some type of heat proof epoxy to install around the leaks. only thing an exhaust leak will do is burn up anything that is burnable around the leaks. any type of leaks will not get better worse yes. check to see if you can find the make of the exhaust system or view on ebay to see if there is a like type or view on google site for exhaust system for your vehicle.