exhaust leak or plugs?
07-30-2008, 03:54 AM
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exhaust leak or plugs? just recently (about 4 months ago) had my header gaskets replaced. about 3 months later i started hearing a ticking noise and it gets louder only under load. i can sometimes hear it at idle with the hood up but most of the time i only hear it when im accelerating. more accel = louder tick. i just got new plugs put in but wires are kinda old but looked fine. before the new plugs were put in, the car was running lean as hell, and now i don't really smell gas that much at all, but the tick is still there, making me think it is the header gaskets again. i tried tightening the bolts but couldn't get to the one in the far back on the pass side. think it could be at the collector? the guy who did my gaskets said that the headers aren't smooth where they connect to the gaskets but i didn't have this noise right after the gaskets were installed until now. how could i fix this issue?
07-30-2008, 10:10 AM
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take it to an exhaust shop and see if the exhaust is leaking anywhere. if its not then check the plugs and make sure the cap is on tight and they are not arcing. if its neither of them, then you have other problems. but rule out the easiest first. good luck and let us know what you find out.
07-30-2008, 10:56 AM
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k im gonna get it to a shop...i know for a fact that it is not a bad tap because i had the exact same tap in the exact same spot as before and i can hear it right there by the gasket. is it normal for me to be able to see the spark from the plugs slightly at night when it is dark with no light under the hood? just want to make sure that means its not arching. i had one arch before and it was a sporadic tick and it didn't sound like an exhaust tick. the fact that the plugs were just installed makes me think it is def. the exhaust. not sure what kind of gaskets, they were bought from ws6.com or whatever, i know that. what do u think?
07-30-2008, 11:49 AM
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hey bud...im pretty certain that its not normal to be able to see the spark at night with no lights. that means its arcing. so you might want to make sure all the caps are securely fastened to the spark plug and then see if you can still see it at night or maybe in a garage with no windows and the lights out. a spark plug arcing can sound exactly like an exhaust leak. so check that first and see if you can get it to stop. you might also have a bad wire(s). since you said they were old.
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07-30-2008, 10:43 PM
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yea i think it might be the wires because when the plugs were changed, my car stopped running lean and i got a new radiator so that might have fixed the car in terms of running lean, but the car runs really good, but i think there is more power than it is putting out and i can see some tiny blue flickering at night on both sides of the engine...im thinking it may be the wires...i would think that the shop who put them in would have seen that the plugs were bad. plus the ticking was there before i got the new plugs put in, maybe they in fact are arching...but the thing that gets me is that i used to have issues with the plugs arching but it would be random ticks and it sounded more like a light socket zap sort of tick. this sounds more like an air tick...but like u all said, it could be the plugs...i don't hear much ticking from the passenger side but i can see the little flashes of blue light at night under the gaskets. any more thoughts?
