Trouble finding an exhaust leak!

[chadds]

Hi, I just bought a '96 Camaro a few weeks ago. The car had headers and exhaust on it when I bought it. Well...it had an audible exhaust leak on the drivers side, it turns out all of the bolts for the headers were only in finger tight! That ended up blowing the gasket on the drivers side, so I replaced it this weekend. That solved my exhaust leaks, until 2 days ago I got another one. This one was from the passenger side. So, I check it out last night and can't feel anything around the passenger side header, but I do notice whoever installed them never put the back 2 bolts in the header! [img]graemlins/rant.gif[/img] So, I put those 2 bolts in, still have a leak though. Next, I find a leak on the passenger side collector, these bolts are also not tight! I tighten those up and the leak stops, but I don't think I was getting the audible tick-tick-tick from that leak, and I STILL have the noise.

I cannot track this one down, it is definatley on the passenger side, but I can feel nothing around the header. So, I got to thinking...since all of the bolts on this car were barely tightened, what would happen if one of the spark plugs is not tightened? Could I get this type of noise from a spark plug being loose? Any other places I should look?

Thanks for any help, this is getting very frustrating!

[hockeyman]

If a spark plug was loose, you'd know it. The performance would die off, and it would feel like a misfire. There are collector problems with the RK Sport headers (if that is what is installed). Anyone who ownes them will tell you to get the collector welded. Bolts just don't hold up for some reason.

As for the header gaskets; Can you find copper gaskets anywhere? They would probably hold up alot better than any other type of gasket.

One more thing- Once the new gaskets are installed, start the car and let it heat up to operating temp, then turn the engine off and re-tighten the bolts. Watch that you don't get burned! Header bolts work themselves loose when heated up, so retightening them when they are hot is a good idea.

[chadds]

Is there anyway to tell what headers are on the car? They were on when I bought it, so I really have no idea what brand they are.

Thanks

[hockeyman]

I don't have any headers on my car, so I wouldn't be able to tell the difference(s) between the brands. Try posting this in the Exhaust section. They should be able to help you there.
If you are having a problem with the collector, then my guess would be RK Sport headers...but I could be wrong too.

[Red]

go to the auto store, they got packs for like a buck, and get some lock tite(fel pro or permatex work just as well) thread sealant. Solution 34 should fix your problems with loose bolts.