Exhaust leak - where?

[graphikg]

I am having an exhaust leak; it seems like it is from the area where the flange meets the pipe. I doesnt seems like it is the gasket though, it seems like it is coming from the bolt.

It got much worse when I did a hard 0-70 mph accel. Something must have shifted.

I think I noticed the problem after I did an oil pan and motor mount replacement. Maybe I bent the headers or the flange area on the firewall or something when I lifted the motor.

[matthugie]

What headers are you running? If they're ebay you may have had one of your tuning ports open up, depending on how they were sealed. I had bolts in mine and blew one out at the track, ended up just getting them welded closed.

[graphikg]

I have s52 headers. I feels like it is coming from one of the bolts on the flange - but it could be the gasket I guess. What's a common leak area around the headers and flange?

[Slovik]

Did you weld up the hole and the channel for the for the secondary air pump thing?

[campbellj25]

You could smoke test the exhaust, BMW had me do this once on an X5 because of some fault code. I laughed at first thinking there was no way it would work due to valve overlap causing it to not be able to build up pressure, but they said to tape off the tips, shove the smoke machine in there and let it do its thing. It actually worked and a couple minutes later I found the leak.

[graphikg]

Slovik - Ya, that is taken care of. I have some metal plates blocking those.

Smoke machine? Like for a halloween party?

[graphikg]

I think it is coming from where the headers meet the head. I did the seafoam trick.

[graphikg]

Its actually coming from where the header flange meets the downpipe. Could it be an issue with the headers or could it just be the gasket?

I think the problem happened when a bump in the road hit my exhaust (coilovers).

[Gooch]

Definitely sounds like you may have tweaked something at the connection when you hit the bump. If you're not getting a good seal at the gasket I recommend this stuff; I bought it for my v-band connection because it didn't seal properly, it works great as a temporary solution until I can get around to fixing it properly. (I plan on removing the v-band because it hangs too low.)

[graphikg]

I am just going to get new gaskets and see how that works. From Pelicanparts, there is a set of 2 for about a buck each. I will just try it. If that doesnt work, I guess I am going to have to go with a set of ebay headers - as long as they clear the sway bar and subframe and dont give me raspy issues.