Hi, I am driving a 95 Ford Escort, and well to be honest it needs some work

I don't make very much money, so fixing it myself is where I am headed, and I'm pretty good mechanically, can weld etc, so it shouldn't be much of a problem. I also have a 94 Mercury Tracer, same car, with a blown motor so I have spare parts.

The slight problem here is, well, I don't know a whole lot about cars, never really worked on one, and only had my license for about 6 months so haven't had much of a need so far.

First problem I have, my exhaust is broken. The problem is, it is one piece all the way from the motor to the muffler, which costs about 180$ to buy. The problem with the exhaust is that the end of the flex pipe is rusted out, and it has broken so it is not connected to the rest of the exhaust. My question here is what is a cheap quick fix, and what could be a more long term fix, but still on the cheap?

Secondly, I believe it is called my shock mount, but it seems to have rusted out, and my rear passenger shock is kind of sticking up into the back of my car. Is this something that i could simply weld a new piece of metal in to hold the shock in place? Or would it take a little bit more than that?

Also, I have noticed that my car seems to sputter some like it isn't getting enough gas whenever I am in gear but stopped using the brake (It is an automatic). Also, it will sputter and almost die if I am accelerating and then have to brake quickly to a near stop. What could be causing this and are there any simple fixes?

Lastly, whenever I am braking from speed (40 mph+) I have noticed that my car vibrates alot. This only happens when I am going more than 40 mph, so if I am going 55 and brake, it vibrates from 55-40, then stops. Is this a problem with my brakes? I have just put new shoes on the rear drum brakes, and the car has fairly new calipers and rotors on the front disc brakes.

Thanks for any help or advice you can give me, it is much appreciated!

I am sorry that I can not help you with your problems or give info but I would like to tell you good luck with your repairs, I own a 99 Escort and the thing SUCKS, I have had to do more work on that car then any other car I have ever had. Replaced the engine, alternator, fuel filter, had to pay to have the fuel pump replaced due to not having the tools to do it myself (nore the space) and the thing currently is sitting at my GF's college with what looks like more problems with the fuel line.

So if my experience with Ford Escorts is any indication you are in for a long road ahead.

On the tailpipe, is it rusted out in a straight enough area that you could cut an alunimum beer (or pop) can and wrap around the rusted out place? That would be cheap, and work good. You can tie the can around with either bailing wire (very cheap) or get a big radiator clamp, one of those that tighten down with a screw, should be able to get one of those for 50 cents or a dollar. You might need 2.

I can't sugest anything for the shocks, every car I've ever had I've used to haul tons of dog food, and we blow out the shocks first thing, and don't worry about them anymore.

The sputtering could be any number of things, bad spark plugs, timeing off, or if you got some crappy gas, that could cause it. We have a friend who has to work on his wife's car every time she buys gas at Walmart.

The vibrating could be a tire out of round. They may need to be balanced. Or replaced.
I hope this helps, car maintence can be a real expensive pain in the *bottom*. Good luck.

Thanks sheepdog, I have heard that using a can and some hose clamps would work, but I wasn't really sure. It was my grandma that told me, and shes a bit senile so can't always trust what she has to say. Thanks

LOLOLOL.....thanks, I needed a laugh today.
Don't know how old your granny is, but I ain't exactly a spring chicken myself, I may be a bit senile too. Don't dicount us old foggies too quickly, we can be pretty sharp sometimes.

This reminds me of a true story that happened to one of my hubbies uncles. He had a tire fly off his car, as it happened, he broke down right by a local mental institution. One of the "inmates" told him to take one lug nut off each of the other wheels and put the wheel back on. The Uncle thought about it for a minute, it certainly seemed like a good idea, but then he wondered if he should take the advise of a crazy person, to which the crazy person responded, "Just cause I'm crazy doens't mean I'm stupid!"

RS, maybe I can help...I owned my own exhaust shop for 6 years. (Don't Ask!)

The flex tube is a section up close to the engine that is made of braided stainless steel. It's designed to "give" when the car encounters vibrations to keep from possibly breaking the exhaust somewhere else. Unfortunately, it is also usually the first place to break!

The pop can and the wire deal won't work here because the exhaust is still very hot at that point in the exhaust pipe and it'll burn through that lighweight aluminum in a week or so. I'm thinking that a good exhaust man can bend a short piece of pipe and weld in there for around $30-40 Dollars, if you can get them to do it. They would much rather sell you the part....

The exhaust leak could be what's causing the car to sputter, I've seen it happen dozens of times. You won't know till you get the exhaust fixed.

And yes, you can repair the shock mount with some welding, just leave yourself some way to mount a new shock! Don't weld the shock to the car for obvious reasons.

Hope that helps.