IN all my years of driving, I've never had this happen. A large plastic bag adhered and melted on to both exhaust pipes about mid-way under my 2005 Mustang GT.

I have pulled off all of the excess plastic that I can, but there is a fair amount melted and stuck to the pipes. When you stop the car and get out, you can smell a plastic burning odor.

Will it harm anything to leave it there and allow it to burn off, eventually?

Or should I somehow try to peel, scrape or otherwise get it off?

If the latter, how do I get this stuff off? It is really stuck / melted on.

 

It'll burn off eventually, but I'd try and scrape off as much as you can. depending on how burnt it already is it may be easier to remove it after it hardens.

It probably will not cause a problem, but if there is a lt it may catch fire, but I'd think it may already be past that.

 

I did the same thing about a week after I got my car. I thought something was melting as I never saw the bag. A friend scraped off as much as he could, but it took forever for that smell to go away.

 

Had the same thing happen on my '99. Huge black plastic bag. I never did crawl under there to try and remove the rest of it - it smelled pretty bad for a while but eventually went away.

I would however, suggest to remove as much as possible of course.

 

Happend to me in my 2000. I just let it burn off, it stunk for about a week but eventually burned off.

 

OK, it doesn't sound too bad or too uncommon, for that matter. I did pull off as much as I could get last night; I'll try to get more off this morning, but most of what is left on there is really stuck, as in melted, onto the pipes.

The smell is a bit unnerving, but as you all said it should go away --- in about a week.

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'll let it run its course.

 

You can try wiping some PVC pipe cleaner on a rag on it. Some of those bags are made of polystyrene and the cleaner should soften it and wipe off. I didnt pay attention if the bag was on the chrome tailpipe or just the intermediate pipe so just try a small spot in case.

 

OK, looks like I did a fairly good job pulling it off last night; could get only a few small pieces this morning.

Hope the smell doesn't last more than a week like you.

The plastic bag melted to the hot pipes is a reminder that we probably should not park the car on tall (especially dry) grass; that could easily start a fire. I don't think the plastic bag will start a fire.

Thanks again.

 

a plastic bag could start a big fire. The plastic catches fire, melts, and drips little fire ***** everywhere. It can be alot worse than dry grass and paper.

 

Depends on what kind of plastic it is.

Most bags are LDPE, which usually can not feed a fire on its own, they go out as soon as the heat source is removed. With some effort, you can pick out what kind of plastic it is from how it smells when burning. PE has a "soft" plastic smell, nothing pungent or stinging.

 

OK, now you've got me concerned again.

Matt--it smells like you described---not stinging or pungent, just a "faint" or as you said soft burning smell.

 

Depending on yourself.

You can wait it out.

You can use a straight razor blade to scrape it off, then a medium sandpaper or sanding sponze to remove the tiny pieces the razor does not remove.

Or in stead of sanding you could use brake cleaner on a rag or paper towel to remove the tiny pieces.

I remove the factory tags using all three of above, they are stuck on bigtime.

 

If it is just a few timy peices I wouldnt be concerned. if it was a large bag wrapped around then id make sure it was off. The timy peices are going to ignite and drip off anyway. It will probably smoke black too. FYI...LDPE is not self extinguishing...at least not the cheap grade used in bags.

 

Scrape off as much as you can, if its on the tips use some wet shop rags, and a little dirt , this will clean them like new.

 

It was a large, greyish-blue colored plastic bag. Bigger than a grocery ("paper or plastic?") plastic bag, but rather a more thicker milled plastic, like when you receive a UPS or FedEx package and the contents are wrapped in a plastic bag.

I pulled most of the bag off, leaving only the sections that had adhered to the exhaust pipes (not the tips, you have to get down in a push-up type position or lay on the ground to see it). I pulled off most of it last night, a bit more this morning and all that's left is what is literally melted onto the pipes.

I spoke to my Dealer Service Advisor about it. He said they see it all the time, and he has NEVER seen one that came close to igniting or catching fire. He said not to worry, and don't bother trying to scrape or chisel it off (worse than trying to remove rail dust with regular car wax).

He said while it may leave a black-ish residue on the pipes, it will burn off in 7 - 14 days. It will smell funny for a while but the odor will dissipate at the plastic burns off.

So I have his comments documented and you folks are my witnesses if the "worst case scenario" unfolds. :nono: Perish that thought.

I really can't get anymore off without putting it up on a rack, letting it cool down, then scraping it with a razor blade. Since the risk of danger is minimal to remote, I think I will let science take its course and let it burn off.

Thanks to all for your input.

 

Occasionally I get rubber from my shoes or my rain suit on the pipes on my bike. I have used easy off oven cleaner to clean that crud off my pipes.

Oscar

 

When the smell is gone just use some Mother's polish on it and it will be good as knew

 

Thanks, guys; appreciate all of the comments. Will try the Easy Off ; that sounds like it might work well to get the remaining unburned residue off.

 

It would not hurt to pick up a small fire extinguisher for the trunk just in case.
We should all have one for that matter, ya never know.

 

You're right. I have one in the trunk of my 1965 because it is an MCA show requirement. Good idea in general.