I own a '02 Accord SE (1st Honda I have owned) and I change my own oil. When I remove the oil filter the oil drains over part of the exhaust pipe. The part I am wondering about looks like woven metal. Some of the oil seems to be absorbed by this. My question is what is it and should I be letting the oil run over it? My gut tells me it is supposed to burn off the oil slowly but it seems to take a long time to do this and if I climb a hill a day or two later the exhaust smokes pretty bad after I shut the car off.
Thanks for the help
Mike

 

that is flex pipe that prevents movement in the exhaust pipes to transfer up to the engine. I don't know how much it might harm. If it's burning in through the pipes, maybe it would harm the cat? I'm not sure if the flex pipe has anything solid under the woven part that would keep a fluid from penetrating it, or it's just a thick layer of woven wires. Is the smoke coming out of the exhaust, or just from underneath to the sides of the car?

 

The same thing happened to me the first time I changed the oil on my 4cyl Accord. Now I just take a piece of reynolds wrap foil and wrap it around the flex pipe to keep the oil off of it and throw it out when I am done. It makes cleanup a brezze.

 

The smoke is coming from underneath the car NOT from the tailpipe.\
Mike

 

so it's just burning the oil that is soaking into the flexpipe. It won't harm anything, but the smell of burning oil and smoke will get annoying. Buster's tip is prety good, or when you are removing the filter, use the rag that you keep near you to wipe messes and throw it over the flexpipe while you get the oil filter out.

 

Thanks For The Info!!
Mike

 

great idea... never thought of that