A Stinky Situation

[SaxMan]

So far this driving season, besides the usual smells that I've grown accustomed to while driving an LBC, I kept smelling melting plastic. I couldn't put my finger on exactly where it was coming from until tonight. When I was under the car, I discovered that I must have run over a plastic bag that got caught on the exhaust pipe and has completely melted around it. It's about a 12 inch section of the exhaust pipe nearly under the driver's seat. Any thoughts on how to get rid of it without damaging the exhaust pipe?

I had one thought of getting the car up to operating temperature where the plastic becomes plyable and scraping it off, although if I slipped and part of me made contact with the hot exhaust pipe, that could be rather painful. My other thought was to hit the area with a wire brush on my cordless drill while cold...but I'm not sure what that would do to the pipe.

 

[HealeyRick]

I'd warm up the car and scrape off the goo while wearing some leather gloves. Let it cool and scrape off the residue with a wire brush. The brush won't hurt the pipe, just make it shiny

 

[Rut]

When this happens to me I just go for a long drive and let it burn off!
Rut

 

[Boink]

Yeah, I guess I'd just let it completely burn off (if possible).

 

[SaxMan]

I'll have to snap a pic...but this is going to take more than just one long drive to have it melt off. I've already gone about 200 miles since I first began to smell it. Looks like the chisel while warm followed by a wire brush may be the best course of action.

 

[SaxMan]

I crawled under the car and hit it with the wire brush. Some areas were so thick that I used some 60 grit sandpaper to thin it down so the wire brush could finish it off. After about an hour, I'd say more than 90% of the plastic is gone. I'm hoping whatever is left is now thin enough to melt off and burn away.