I was about 15 mintues from Sturgis (my destination) yesterday. After about a 5 hour drive. Temps were around 80.
Smoke alarm in the bedroom started going off. Pulled over immediately and some smoke was coming out from behind the drivers side tag.
Long story short. I think i have an exhaust leak, causing the exhaust blanketing on fire. Or almost on fire anyway. What is the best way to get this either
A. Blanketing off so I can get the pipe repaired while still hooked up
B. Remove the pipe including the blanketing so I can repair the pipe and reinstall
I'll be here for a couple days and need to get this wrapped up before the next leg of my trip. I'll attach pictures in the next post
Pictures
Dennis White
1997 Newell Coach 454
Canfield OH
(This post was last modified: 06-29-2026, 06:22 AM by whited44.)
(06-29-2026, 06:21 AM)whited44 Wrote: I was about 15 mintues from Sturgis (my destination) yesterday. After about a 5 hour drive. Temps were around 80.
Smoke alarm in the bedroom started going off. Pulled over immediately and some smoke was coming out from behind the drivers side tag.
Long story short. I think i have an exhaust leak, causing the exhaust blanketing on fire. Or almost on fire anyway. What is the best way to get this either
A. Blanketing off so I can get the pipe repaired while still hooked up
B. Remove the pipe including the blanketing so I can repair the pipe and reinstall
I'll be here for a couple days and need to get this wrapped up before the next leg of my trip. I'll attach pictures in the next post
Pictures
If you can get it out without removing the blanketing that would be great. That stuff itches and will be all over the place once you start removing it. I always wear long sleeves and gloves when I am working especially on that insulation.
On a side note, I have seen more rotten exhaust under blankets like this. I think because the coaches sit more than they are used it allows moisture to build up under the blankets and the only way to dry it out is by driving it to heat it up. For me, I would either replace the blanketed pipe with stainless or leave the blanket off if using regular steel exhaust. I left all the blankets off on my Wanderlodge. Lots complain about heat in the bedroom but mine was never that bad. I also redid all the insulation in the engine bay when I did my radiator recore.
(06-29-2026, 06:21 AM)whited44 Wrote: I was about 15 mintues from Sturgis (my destination) yesterday. After about a 5 hour drive. Temps were around 80.
Smoke alarm in the bedroom started going off. Pulled over immediately and some smoke was coming out from behind the drivers side tag.
Long story short. I think i have an exhaust leak, causing the exhaust blanketing on fire. Or almost on fire anyway. What is the best way to get this either
A. Blanketing off so I can get the pipe repaired while still hooked up
B. Remove the pipe including the blanketing so I can repair the pipe and reinstall
I'll be here for a couple days and need to get this wrapped up before the next leg of my trip. I'll attach pictures in the next post
Pictures
If you can get it out without removing the blanketing that would be great. That stuff itches and will be all over the place once you start removing it. I always wear long sleeves and gloves when I am working especially on that insulation.
On a side note, I have seen more rotten exhaust under blankets like this. I think because the coaches sit more than they are used it allows moisture to build up under the blankets and the only way to dry it out is by driving it to heat it up. For me, I would either replace the blanketed pipe with stainless or leave the blanket off if using regular steel exhaust. I left all the blankets off on my Wanderlodge. Lots complain about heat in the bedroom but mine was never that bad. I also redid all the insulation in the engine bay when I did my radiator recore.
It looks like there is a clamp at the turbo, and one maybe underneath where it goes into the muffler??? It would be nice if I could get the whole pipe out rather than trying to get that insulation off while it's still in there.
(06-29-2026, 07:56 AM)whited44 Wrote: It looks like there is a clamp at the turbo, and one maybe underneath where it goes into the muffler??? It would be nice if I could get the whole pipe out rather than trying to get that insulation off while it's still in there.
Yea, definitely would be nice to get it out in one piece. Not sure if one of the other gurus have had theirs out. I know I remember seeing a post by Richard on some exhaust mods, I think it mainly had to do with changing the muffler, not sure if he removed that pipe.
Oh my! First you drove right past us. We have been in Sioux Falls for a couple of days, headed from here to Belvedere, then to Custer.
Curse Newell for limited access to this region. I don’t know how tall you are and how long your arms might be. A normal guy like me could barely reach the wire ties on the blanket to get it off.
First hint, clamp the radiator surge tank hose going into the over flow reservoir and get it out of the way. Zero access without doing that.
Your leak could be from the clamp where the turbo enters the exhaust pipe. The second place is at the bottom of the exhaust pipe. Right at the deck level, there is a short piece of flex (6 inch?) connected to short straight exhaust pipe connected to the muffler. That piece of flex is known to come loose and / or burn through. It is nigh impossible to access. If that is the leak, I have snuck an exhaust band clamp into that opening and made a temp repair.
You are going to have to dissect before coming up with a plan cause right now the leak location is unknown. Post pics when you have them. 817 223 2056
Richard and Rhonda Entrekin
95 Newell, 390 Ex caretaker
99 Newell, 512 Ex caretaker
07 Prevost Marathon, 1025
Maverick Hybrid Toad
Inverness, FL (when we're home )
Does your picture #2 show the burn hole in the blanket in the vertical piece?
When I redid the exhaust on my previous coach, I had it ceramic coated. That was a Series 60 and essentially that piece of exhaust. The pipe coming out of the turbo.
It definitely helped contain the exhaust heat, but I did not do enough measuring prior to coating to know how much help it provided.
(06-29-2026, 11:55 AM)Richard Wrote: Oh my! First you drove right past us. We have been in Sioux Falls for a couple of days, headed from here to Belvedere, then to Custer.
Curse Newell for limited access to this region. I don’t know how tall you are and how long your arms might be. A normal guy like me could barely reach the wire ties on the blanket to get it off.
First hint, clamp the radiator surge tank hose going into the over flow reservoir and get it out of the way. Zero access without doing that.
Your leak could be from the clamp where the turbo enters the exhaust pipe. The second place is at the bottom of the exhaust pipe. Right at the deck level, there is a short piece of flex (6 inch?) connected to short straight exhaust pipe connected to the muffler. That piece of flex is known to come loose and / or burn through. It is nigh impossible to access. If that is the leak, I have snuck an exhaust band clamp into that opening and made a temp repair.
You are going to have to dissect before coming up with a plan cause right now the leak location is unknown. Post pics when you have them. 817 223 2056
So I got it apart today.. got the muffler out, turbo pipe off, and the blanket out.
If failed at the flex pipe. So tomorrow I’m on the way to Napa to get new flex pipe and some clamps.
(06-29-2026, 11:55 AM)Richard Wrote: Oh my! First you drove right past us. We have been in Sioux Falls for a couple of days, headed from here to Belvedere, then to Custer.
Curse Newell for limited access to this region. I don’t know how tall you are and how long your arms might be. A normal guy like me could barely reach the wire ties on the blanket to get it off.
First hint, clamp the radiator surge tank hose going into the over flow reservoir and get it out of the way. Zero access without doing that.
Your leak could be from the clamp where the turbo enters the exhaust pipe. The second place is at the bottom of the exhaust pipe. Right at the deck level, there is a short piece of flex (6 inch?) connected to short straight exhaust pipe connected to the muffler. That piece of flex is known to come loose and / or burn through. It is nigh impossible to access. If that is the leak, I have snuck an exhaust band clamp into that opening and made a temp repair.
You are going to have to dissect before coming up with a plan cause right now the leak location is unknown. Post pics when you have them. 817 223 2056
So I got it apart today.. got the muffler out, turbo pipe off, and the blanket out.
If failed at the flex pipe. So tomorrow I’m on the way to Napa to get new flex pipe and some clamps.
Pictures to come tomorrow
Good to know there is a flex pipe under there.
If you can get stainless flex pipe that would be great, the regular aluminized steel stuff just does not last. I know you are probably going to have to get what you can.
Well I didn't take any pictures.. Thankfully i'm at a wanderlodge rally. I opened the hatch and started cutting the wires off the blanket. Next thing you know I had 3 guys that were just as dirty as me, and a crowd of about another 10.
We got the pipe off the turbo, and the muffler off too. The flex pipe failed just below where it was welded to the turbo pipe.
Now with it all apart I went into sturgis and rapid city and got a new piece of flex (they only had steel) and a piece of 5" to go into the muffler. Found a local guy to weld it all together like it was.
Got back to the campground and my buddies got back underneath there with me and we got it all back together. Worst part was getting the muffler to accept the pipe without an expander but it worked.
)
