how do you know if you have a header leak?

[dmw319]

ive heard its a loss of power, hard shifting, and ticking. but arent headers supposed to tick somewhat anyways? i have a very faint ticking on accelearation, but not in park. i dont know if i do or not.. the guy who installed my 3" catback a few weeks ago said there was no leaks and everything was fine.. but.. anyone know anything more? thanks.

[slow6]

make sure you got water in your radiator
no water = high heat = dead engine

[98Camaro3.8]

There shouldn't be any ticking from the headers.

Originally posted by slow6:
make sure you got water in your radiator
no water = high heat = dead engine

What are you talking about??

[slow6]

its obvious that you've never had a radiator leak.
where all the hot water steams out (and you dont know it). your engine starts ticking. you can hear it out of the exhaust. it will be very hard to accelerate and then your car will die from overheating. you probably wont be able to restart it right then.

headers themselves dont move, so they cant tick by themselves.

what are you talking about?

[dmw319]

slow6 youre almost describing my problem. although i havent ever experienced any problems with accelearting/starting.

although i have a leak of (something) i dont know what, and at first i thought it was just the condensation from the AC, but i tested it and its not. i cant tell where the leak is coming from, but the "little puddle" of whatever it is *looks to be clear* ends up right under the back of the passenger side wheel, drips down the firewall sort of near my headers. its never a lot of fluid and its never "seeping" out or anything.

any ideas?

[BLLDOGG]

this topic is so hard to follow i dont know where to start. ok...first, like Matt said, headers are not suppose to tick. it is common for an exhaust to leak during acceleration and not in park. you can check for leaks by feeling around or any other way you find useful.

Slow6, you are not talking about anything that was mentioned in this topic prior to your posting unless something was edited. you are talking about internal coolant leak and he is not.

dmw319, that clear water you are seeing coming out from underneath your car is suppose to be there. it is from your AC system, and like i said, its suppose to be dripping.

[dmw319]

it cant be from my AC system. i drove my car for about 30 minutes, with the air completely off. totally off. and it was leaking.. ?

i know i dont have a leak by doing the hand check. haha ive done that. but what is it that is ticking then?

[BLLDOGG]

did you have someone pressing on the gas when you felt around? it helped me out cause i couldnt really feel anything without a friend raising the rpms enough to feel to exhaust

[dmw319]

no didnt do that.. but when i got my catback installed (thanks to you for finding all the right pipes ;) ) the guy who installed it checked, and found one really small one going INTO the cat. but he fixed it right up, and i told him about it and he said everything was normal.

but if everything is working as it should, and i dont have any problems car-wise.. why do i hear a tick?

[BLLDOGG]

im not too sure....im still running down ticks myself. just recently fixed my egr connection and it being fixed revealed another tick on the passengers side but only during cold start. i just think something isnt tight enough until it heats up and expands.

no problem helping you with those pipes, i just hope you like them in the long run like me :D

[dmw319]

i love em so far haha.

what are all the possible problems for the ticks?

EGR leak, header/exhaust leak.. what else? im pretty sure its not either of those

[BLLDOGG]

i will promise you that you egr is leaking. if it really isnt, your the first 00+ i know of.

the only places it could leak is the egr, headers, and collectors

[dmw319]

how are you so sure? could it be gaskets?

how can i fix it? (the egr) easy fix? where do i buy the stuff, its like copper something or other..? what stores (not online)

[99W68Firebird]

Blldogg I'm on same boat you are, when i put RTV on EGR for temporary seal. I get another leak on passenger side. Dunno what it is tho. either passenger gasket or y-pipe collectors is my guess.

[dmw319]

RTV thats it. where can i buy it and how does it work?