charmz

So after patching my exhaust 2 times previously i finally gave in and decided to do it right this time....

I replaced the entire pipe from the cats up with a new piece that was fabricated to exact spec and no heat shield.


PROBLEM: my car still sounds like its leaking from somewhere.

THOUGHT: when i was using seafoam not too long ago, i notice that the car was smoking from the passenger side underneath the hood close to the back of the engine compartment...

QUESTION: anyone ever get a hole in the manifold? or maybe bad manifold gasket?


let me know what you guys think

thanks!

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

Being that you're in Canada your cars have to deal with snow, so im sure anything metal will get damaged there.

You can put your car on the rack and have someone rev the engine and just listen for exhaust leaks. You could have a bad gasket, cracked manifold, loose screws on the manifold. You wont know the exact leak source until you get it up on the rack and rev the engine.

For me I replaced only one side and the muffler shop grinded the area really good and removed the heat shielding. The heat shielding is what damages the pipes. Because debris gets trapped inside of it.

XxGoKoUxX

It could be ANYTHING and everything...... Most definitely have your exhaust removed and properly leak tested, rather than rev an engine. I'd have it all taken out, investigated, and patched according to what needs to be fixed !

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

This is a proper way! But also can open a can of worms with seized/broken bolts. The northern cars are different then our FL cars, were pampered without having to deal with terrible rusting

XxGoKoUxX

LOL, that's true too! We don't witness snow, and we BARELY (if in the inner coast of FL) ever witness salt while we're at that....

striderg3

is it okay to drive my 3rd gen lexus GS without the heat shield? hope no plastic stuff is gonna burn / melt on the underbody?

Schmexus

My invidia midpipe doesn't have a heat shield on it. Nothing has melted yet.

XxGoKoUxX

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe the reason for the heatshield is for the catalytic converters, the cats get extremely hot while under load (the chemical reaction going on underneath there).

If you've removed your catsi n that area you should be okay I guess, but it's better to still have it so it doesn't heat up the cabin.

07LXgs350

I think part of the reason for heat shields is so that nothing underneath your car will catch fire (like tall grass). Could be wrong.

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

The heat shields are the problem for the exhaust pipes to leak. They heat shield and clamp design is poorly designed that it collects small debri. This is what causes the rusting, to be proactive you can just remove the exhaust shields.

charmz

Im pretty sure its a hole in one or both of my manifolds..
I also get the rattle on cold starts (which I believe is from the manifold shield) and now a error code for bad cat.