exhaust leak from around headers
 

my car is making a funny noise when i accelerate and ive narrowed it down to an exhaust leak from the gaskets from my aftermarket headers, even though i used new gaskets. i did abit of research and its apparently its a very common problem. on other forums people are saying the only way to stop it is with high temp gasket cement or even loctite on the bolts. my question is has anyone on here had to resort to gasket cement to seal up there header/up pipe? i dont realy want to go down that path because if for what ever reason they need to come off it will be an absolute pain in the arse!

ive tightened up the bolts and the leak has stopped but from what ive read its a good possibility that it will just start to leak again hence the need for gasket cement.

If its gone from tightening up the bolts than they are coming loose so i would use the high temp loctite before using gasket cement/sealant.

What brand "aftermarket" headers did you get? And did you ensure the mating surfaces were perfectly flat (using a straight edge), and if they weren't, did you get them machined?

got wolf racing ceramic coated equal length headers. the surface was good, didnt check them with a straight edge but i sat them on a flat bench and checked they sat flat which they did.

common problem with aftermarket headers, best to remove, linish and refit with fresh gaskets again

[QUOTE=mattmy99;527560]What brand "aftermarket" headers did you get? And did you ensure the mating surfaces were perfectly flat (using a straight edge), and if they weren't, did you get them machined?[/QUOTE]

^ If this was done, and they are true to a rulers edge, add new gaskets, (oem are fine), and win. If its due to a stud undoing itself, lock it in there.

Brent.
:)