Plastic bag on exhaust pipes

[ricardo381]

2003 Legacy L SE Wagon

I was driving on the freeway the other day when a plastic bag flew
underneath my wagon. When I got home, half of the bag had melted onto
the exhaust pipe underneath the engine. I was able to pull half of the
bag off, but the other half was fused to the pipe. How can I remove the
plastic bag remnants that are fused to the pipe? Can I just allow it to
"burn off?" Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Frank]

Scrape off what you can and let time and heat do the rest.
Bag is probably polyethylene and there are no good solvents to use.

 

[Michael Pardee]

2003 Legacy L SE Wagon

I was driving on the freeway the other day when a plastic bag flew
underneath my wagon. When I got home, half of the bag had melted onto
the exhaust pipe underneath the engine. I was able to pull half of the
bag off, but the other half was fused to the pipe. How can I remove the
plastic bag remnants that are fused to the pipe? Can I just allow it to
"burn off?" Any thoughts?

Thanks!

A rotary wire brush or one of those Scotchbrite abrasive disks would remove
most of it, but I'm inclined to go with Frank's recommendation - let the
part that is really stuck "burn off."

Mike

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I "caught" a plastic bag once, and used Frank's approach. It burned off
fast enough!

Rick

 

[elevator farter #81]

What don't burn off you can scrape off with a putty knife
when the muffler is STONE COLD.

 

[ricardo381]

It's been 4 days since the incident. It still smell some of the toxic
fumes when my car is idle (at least the smell does not come in through
the vents while my car is in motion). It looks like it's burning away
nicely. I will check up on the progress again in a week and see if I
can scrape off as much as I can. Thanks for all the input!