No tailpipe - any issues?

[Miles]

Hi volks
My tailpipe has rusted through and fallen off leaving the flange and three very rusty nuts on the silencer. I going on a 300-mile round trip this weekend and won’t have time to get a new tailpipe and replace it. Could there be any issues with driving without it – back-pressure; hot exhaust into engine bay? I noticed some-one on here bodged a replacement with a rolled up bean tin. Is there any point in doing that? I can live with it being a little noisier.

This is a 1983 1.9 DG

Miles

[Reimotim]

Should be fine. Ran mine for a few months without.

[Roydini]

Yeah mine was still attached but might as well not have been given how riddled with holes it was. Should be fine in the the short term but possibly a bit unpleasant for anyone sitting in the back of the van due to the exhaust fumes. I decided to fit a whole new stainless exhaust in the end as the tailpipe wasn't the only knackered bit. Have a good look over the rest of yours and see what state it's in, but remember that they often rust from the inside!

[itchyfeet]

No problem, its only a short piece.
if you get fumes in then you have a problem with seals or holes
long term not sure what an MOT would make of it.

[croc]

Mine was failed on MOT for the short bent tailpipe having holes.
Apparently the exhaust system should have no gas escape from engine until the end of the tailpipe.
But for other use the only downside would be exhaust fumes into the interior - this is dangerous - carbon monoxide poisoning, go to sleep and not wake up.
Your van your choice!!

[itchyfeet]

I very much doubt you will get fumes in your van unless the seals are failed or you have holes already,
when you are driving the exhaust gets swirled around and sucked back into the engine bay area anyway even with a tail pipe

[Miles]

Thank you all for your mostly reassuring replies. I have to say I'm not overly worried about fumes inside the van. I think wind direction would be a much bigger factor than whether the exhaust has travelled that extra 8". It's not directly below the engine bay, and we would smell hot engine (it's not terribly clean) if the hatch seals were leaking.
It looks like it will be impossible to remove the bolts, so I'm going to get someone to weld a bit of bent pipe onto the flange.

[CovKid]

It was at that point that I couldn't be bothered trying to tap the old tin can to fit a tailpipe and did this:

http://wiki.club8090.co.uk/index.php/Exhausts_Custom" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;