One side of my exhaust pipe doesn't work, I have a double exhaust on the 1990 GX I just bought. Only reason why it was on sale was because the owner didn't want to fix it and get it emission tested. I tried looking under the car but I can't find where the problem is and if I don't fix it I can't get it tested and insured. Its noisy too.

Also in the case where I want to save money should I change it to single exhaust?

 

It's a simple "Y" after the cats, so one side has to be blocked.

Yes- A single will work fine.

Duals are a matter of taste unless you're completely rebuilding the exhaust as full dual- front to back.

 

Of course you could leave one side blocked for testing.
Rig an air pump on that side & have them put the probe there

 

actually the problem is before the Y, its the part that connects to it, its loose. Does that mean I have to weld it?

 

The flang.. where the gasket is between the cat and the Y pipe?.... replace the gasket and see if it still sounds "broken"

 

are there any pictures? I'm not too sure a gasket would fix it, its kind of like a male (whatever)into a female (whatever) and I can't get the smoke to stop leaking out from there, but for some reason one exhaust pipe works fine, the other one has nothing coming out.

Sorry I'm a at exhaust.