VW Autosleeper Sandhurst exhaust

Hi I have a 2007 Autosleeper Sandhurst and the exhaust rear silencer is rusted and looks like it will have to be replaced, so I called VW with what I believed to be the part number which is stamped on the silencer but they told me it was not a part number and matched nothing on there system, although being a VW exhaust it doesn't seem to be the standard and has obviously been modified due to the conversion. I just wandered if anyone on here owns a Sandhurst and has had similar problems when replacing the exhaust parts. Hope I have posted this in the right place.Thanks

Great thanks, I will give him a call today.

Hi, welcome to the Forum. 

I had to replace the exhaust on my Mercedes Medallion a couple of years ago.  I visited two exhaust centres who both confirmed they could not get an exhaust with a side exit for a Mercedes sprinter.  The third place I visited took the bother to put it up on the ramp and have a look.

Turned out, it is a standard exhaust with the tail pipe cut off and a stainless steel bent tailpipe clamped on.  They order a new system, cut it and re-installed the original tail section which was still in great condition, all for £60.  First new exhaust in 17 years!

Every possibility your Sandhurst may be a similar system.

From my own experience with VW it's not at all unusual to find part numbers on sub-assemblies (e.g. one part of a whole exhaust system) that do not correspond to anything on their system. But it almost certainly does have a different part number of its own on the system.

What you will ~probably~ find is that the original VW rear box (mild steel, rust resistant coated) will be far more expensive than a complete DPF/cat-forward aftermarket system in stainless steel. But you may also find that few if any aftermarket systems include 2 boxes. I'm told that this makes very little difference to how loud/quiet the resulting exhaust is, though.

BTW - if the rust is just on the outer skin you may find it has a while yet - ours is double-skinned, and yours probably is too...

Hi, Thanks for your replies. I phoned Mark at A/S today and he was as helpful as he could be, he told me it was a standard exhaust as the do not change it the just add the chrome extension to come out the side, so I visited TPS today to see if they could match it off the chassis number but the print out he gave me with a picture that matches the chassis number looks nothing like my exhaust, and I can't take the chance ordering it as it's non returnable, and he said he had no further info on it, to be honest he wasn't very helpful.
It's the pipe that goes into the silencer that is holed with rust, it may weld but this is just a short term fix. Considering going down the route of a stainless steel system, but find it a little frustrating that I can't easily source a replacement exhaust for a 10 year old van. No given up hope yet though........

Did you ask for a price on the exhaust, as shown on their system? Whether it's ~exactly~ the right part or not, I suspect that you would be looking at £800 at a minimum - which makes an aftermarket stainless system look quite attractive. A few months ago I priced up some options for a cat-forward stainless system on the Trooper - I can't recall the exact figures now, but every option I looked at was significantly cheaper than an OEM mild steel system!

Hi , I have a 2007 Sandhurst, my boxes are rusted on outer skins, I had a price from a44 in Worcester, which I believe do some exhaust for auto sleeper, but not these ones, they started doing them a few years ago, qouted £600 in stainless from cat back, he said I'm happy to take your money but it would probably last another couple of years or longer, so I would wait if I was you, after talking to the mot man as well, I've decided to replace the rear box with a magnaflow stainless box and do away with the center box, the bend between the silencers is already stainless as are the pipes side exiting, so with some extra stainless pipe, hangers, reducer, clamp and box , I can make one for £220, so I'm going to do it in June when it's a bit warmer and after my holiday, the upside for me is that I can do the welding myself, but if you can't a44 are very good, they said it would take a few days

Matt

Hi, sorry forgot to add, it's only standard up to the end of the first box where it's been welded onto with stainless pipe, 60mm pipe upto there, then goes into 65mm pipe, I could not find the second box anywhere looking online though it must be standard on some VW, hope you like your van as much as I like mine, I had a T4 swift before which was good but a bit slow without a turbo so I changed last August, a few Sandhurst owners on here but a few and far between so might take a few days for some replies, out of interest as a fellow vw enthusiast, have you done any mods to yours

Matt

Sandhurst wrote:Hi I have a 2007 Autosleeper Sandhurst and the exhaust rear silencer is rusted and looks like it will have to be replaced, so I called VW with what I believed to be the part number which is stamped on the silencer but they told me it was not a part number and matched nothing on there system, although being a VW exhaust it doesn't seem to be the standard and has obviously been modified due to the conversion. I just wandered if anyone on here owns a Sandhurst and has had similar problems when replacing the exhaust parts. Hope I have posted this in the right place.Thanks

You may be able to get some help and advice from this chap, who is a VW enthusiast and has experience of T4 T5 models
http://www.vwbooks.co.uk/

If you look on the Motorhome Fun site his name is rod-vw 

Chris