Is this header primary weld leaking?
11-03-2015, 12:10 PM
#1
Is this header primary weld leaking? Chasing an exhaust leak on my headers. I definitely found leaks at the slip fit collectors, but I am thinking my one primary is leaking too. ARH offered to take my header in for inspection and free repair if I pay shipping both ways (thought that was very nice of them since I inherited these headers), but its a pain in the *** to have down time and have to ship a header, so I want to be 100% sure before I do the labor.
Attached is the pic. 7 primaries look completely blackened and normal, but one primary still looks almost new, but has a very distinct black area near the weld. Does this look like a leak to you?
Attached is the pic. 7 primaries look completely blackened and normal, but one primary still looks almost new, but has a very distinct black area near the weld. Does this look like a leak to you?
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11-04-2015, 07:30 PM
#4
I'd be more curious as to why 7 of the 8 tubes look to be getting hot and that one isn't.
I would be very interested to see what the plug in that hole looks like compared to the others, I bet you see something that doesn't make sense and you have a dead cyl... whether it's the coil, etc. I have no idea but there's no way that you should have heat in all the primaries except one like that.
It's not a header problem... you have something else going on there.
I would be very interested to see what the plug in that hole looks like compared to the others, I bet you see something that doesn't make sense and you have a dead cyl... whether it's the coil, etc. I have no idea but there's no way that you should have heat in all the primaries except one like that.
It's not a header problem... you have something else going on there.
11-04-2015, 07:52 PM
#5
I'd be more curious as to why 7 of the 8 tubes look to be getting hot and that one isn't.
I would be very interested to see what the plug in that hole looks like compared to the others, I bet you see something that doesn't make sense and you have a dead cyl... whether it's the coil, etc. I have no idea but there's no way that you should have heat in all the primaries except one like that.
It's not a header problem... you have something else going on there.
I would be very interested to see what the plug in that hole looks like compared to the others, I bet you see something that doesn't make sense and you have a dead cyl... whether it's the coil, etc. I have no idea but there's no way that you should have heat in all the primaries except one like that.
It's not a header problem... you have something else going on there.
But the car runs smooth and has good power. I put all new ZR1 plugs in and firecore wires too.
Maybe the previous owner had an issue with a plug/wire and the header primary hasn't had a chance to catch up yet? I'll pull the plugs and take a pic on those two cylinders. I can also log misfires, I will plug my scanner in tomorrow.
Last edited by mchicia1; 11-04-2015 at 08:36 PM.
11-04-2015, 10:06 PM
#7
I bet you have a dead hole. Why, there's a lot of reasons. Try swapping the coil packs from one side to the other and see if the problem moves to the other side if the plugs look funky, that will tell you if it's a coil or the coil pack harness. Problem stays put, then try swapping wires around.... if it still stays there time to start leaking and compression testing because that's not right.
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11-05-2015, 07:55 AM
#8
I bet you have a dead hole. Why, there's a lot of reasons. Try swapping the coil packs from one side to the other and see if the problem moves to the other side if the plugs look funky, that will tell you if it's a coil or the coil pack harness. Problem stays put, then try swapping wires around.... if it still stays there time to start leaking and compression testing because that's not right.
What I did see in my scanner was on cold start the Bank 1 trims were maxed out to +25% while bank 2 was the normal -5% to 0%. This is definitely indicative of a leak prior to the 02 sensors. The trims came back to normal after about 2 minutes of driving because the heat from the exhaust must be sealing the leak enough to not drive the 02s crazy.
Since the 02 sensors are before the slip fit, I would imagine this means the header flange itself is leaking either at the flange or a weld. Time to hook the compressed air up into the exhaust and poke around I guess. Pain in the *** but has to be done at this point.
Here is an idle vid I took a couple weeks ago, pretty smooth and quiet.
11-05-2015, 12:46 PM
#11
Video of the sound. It's only noticeable at 1300 rpms or less with high load on the car. Most noticeable at 1:06 because I am going up hill in a high gear. You can hear it clear up when the RPMS go up.
It made the same exact sound when while still on the factory DOD setup, so it's not just valve train noise through the header.
It made the same exact sound when while still on the factory DOD setup, so it's not just valve train noise through the header.
11-05-2015, 02:12 PM
#14
Nope, car runs great. 0 KR on scanner.
It is warped, it would not seal at all with stock MLS gasket.
I put thick remflex gaskets on there and that seemed to seal it, at least at idle. With the MLS gaskets on there, you could clearly hear the exhaust leak and see the black carbon on the head.
Sigh, maybe I just need to ship these to ARH and be done with it.
It is warped, it would not seal at all with stock MLS gasket.
I put thick remflex gaskets on there and that seemed to seal it, at least at idle. With the MLS gaskets on there, you could clearly hear the exhaust leak and see the black carbon on the head.
Sigh, maybe I just need to ship these to ARH and be done with it.
11-06-2015, 01:38 PM
#17
Nope, car runs great. 0 KR on scanner.
It is warped, it would not seal at all with stock MLS gasket.
I put thick remflex gaskets on there and that seemed to seal it, at least at idle. With the MLS gaskets on there, you could clearly hear the exhaust leak and see the black carbon on the head.
Sigh, maybe I just need to ship these to ARH and be done with it.
It is warped, it would not seal at all with stock MLS gasket.
I put thick remflex gaskets on there and that seemed to seal it, at least at idle. With the MLS gaskets on there, you could clearly hear the exhaust leak and see the black carbon on the head.
Sigh, maybe I just need to ship these to ARH and be done with it.
. These were on the car when I bought them.
11-06-2015, 03:22 PM
#19
Warped flange is easy to fix, reweld it, and put the thing on a big belt sanding table... whamo no more warped flange.
Fwiw if you were to dychem the flange on pretty much any header and hit it on a flat table with sandpaper on it you would see none of them are flat, that's one of the things an experienced guy will do with new headers before installing them. Hell I'm going to do it to the set I'm building now.
Fwiw if you were to dychem the flange on pretty much any header and hit it on a flat table with sandpaper on it you would see none of them are flat, that's one of the things an experienced guy will do with new headers before installing them. Hell I'm going to do it to the set I'm building now.
11-07-2015, 02:55 AM
#20
Than you need to send them back. I've heard of other people having problems with ARH defects. I would not try to make the flanges flat yourself because the thinner they get, the more they will warp.