My 2012 Quest has a hole somewhere in the middle of the exhaust pipe that is making a lot of noise. This seems to be a common problem as I've seen a 2011 Quest on the road with a very loud exhaust as well. Is there a fix to this that would not be very costly? My mechanic welded that part of the exhaust as a fix, but that only lasted a few months. I was wondering if this is just a small part of the exhaust that needs to be replaced. I don't want to spend a whole lot of $$$ for this.
Anyone else run into this issue?

New one for me, but shouldn't be a hard fix.

Are we sure it's a leak? Could it be a rattling / vibrating heatshield?

I suspect you're in a rust area, so getting a takeoff exhaust from a southwestern wrecking yard would probably be your best bet.

It must be a leak. It is quite loud

In that case, you'll want to identify where it's coming from.

If someone welded it up, it should be fixed.

Pretty hard to weld to rusted metal, so without any additional useful info, my previous suggestion stands.

I know this is a an old post but I just want to share my experience. My 2012 Quest had developed a noise coming from the engine bay area 3 months ago which grew louder in a hurry. At first it sounded like a rattling heat shield but soon realized it was an actual exhaust leak.

Long story short I went to my local shop and was told it was the bad soft pipe from the y-pipe with a cat converter. Only OEM replacement was available from where I am (NYC) due to emission standard and it cost well over $1000. While I was sourcing an aftermarket one online I stumbled upon info regarding federal law mandating factory warranty for cat converter up to 8 year/ 80,000 miles. Took the car to a Nissan dealer with 12 miles shy of the 80,000 miles and after a bit wrestling with the service advisor and his manager I got them to replace it free of charge for me.

OKay before all of you start spending money on a supposed leaking exhaust. Yes It sounds like tick tick tick.

Clamp up the rubber boot where the steering column goes into the firewall!
Us Aussie owners have done this to our E52 Elgrand and has fixed the issue

My original OEM flex pipe and catalytic converter lasted 7 years before the Y pipe in the front developed a hole. I replaced it with a non OEM flex pipe and catalytic converter from a local manufacturer. It cost me something like $225 + $250 labor for installation. Now, 3 years later it has developed the same issue and needs replacement. The OEM part costs $1595 + taxes plus installation costs. The non OEM part now costs $225 without taxes if I pay cash. There is also a Magnaflow OEM grade one that costs $1179 plus taxes. Does anyone know how durable the Magnaflow one is and how long it will last? I'm trying to determine what the most cost effective option is. If I go with the local manufacturer I will likely have to replace every 3 years and pay for the cheaper parts plus labor for installation. I may keep the Quest for another 5 years at most.

One thing I should point out here, repeated flex pipe failures are very often due to sloppy motor mounts. On any FWD platform, when the engine torques further in the mounts than it should, it makes the flex pipe work a lot harder and more often than it should. Worth checking.