Hit Steep Driveway - Exhaust Leaking
 

I was driving around Newark the other day and pulled in a driveway to turn around, misjudging my A) speed B) clearance and now my car sounds like really, really angry Honda. I inspected the underside and found the exhaust is leaking (pass. side) between the where exhaust manifold and the catalytic converter section bolt together. I tried tightening the nuts but the sounds hasnt gone away.

I really don't want to replace the cat section, as its only two years old. Is it possible I just knocked the more inexpensive gasket out of place? Any comments, suggestions, or ideas would help. I know it cant be good for the car to have exhaust leaking so far upstream. yelp!

Ugh, I know exactly how you feel. I got to NJIT for school, and that city destroyed my suspension/midpipe when I had my SVX. I say you go to a muffler shop and have them cut the section out and weld a new one. Couldn't possibly cost more than $40.

Can you tell where the leak is coming from? As long as it's not to bad, you can get it welded for next to nothing.

right where the manfold bolts to the cat pipe.

Okay, update; its actually leaking in two places, the first being where the passenger side cat pipe bolts up to the exhaust manifold, and also where the primary cat bolts to the resonator section. The latter was rusted at the flange and the driveway was the proverbial straw on the camel's back.

Now I'm experiencing sputtering below 2k rpms while starting from a stop and cruising - would that be a common symptom of an exhaust leak?
There is no problem at WOT or at idle, just in the low-rpms...

In your professional SVX opinions, are these openings in the exhaust the cause of my rough/lumpy/sputtery acceleration?

I tried tightening the bolts, which are pretty far apart and it got worse, now it sputters at all RPMS...

help! is it my ehxaust cuasing my engine running problems?!?!?

correct me if i am wrong -anybody - i have heard that exhaust leak could/would cause engine/running problems. something like rough idle and loss of power kind of thing...

thats what im getting at... my exhaust leak is REALLY close to the engine, as in, coming outta the passenger exhaust manifold - and I'm having really lumpy/sputtery driving characteristics which weren't there before. I checked all my vacuum hoses, pcv hoses, and my air filter is brandy new, so im looking at the exhaust as the source of my problem

I just want someone who knows SVXi to confirm that this is whats doing it

Yeah, that can cause the problems.

thanks hocrest... just kinda a peace of mind thing.. and btw I havent forgotten about your PCV tool, its hanging in my garage waiting for me to get money to ship it back :o

I scraped my old exhaust on a speed bump when I had too many people in the car. It tore holes up and down the midsection where the cat is.

It killed my performance and was bogging on the lowend until I had it replaced with the whole magnaflow system... then the power came back :D

Well, good news/bad news kinda thing...

I ordered a new lead gasket & misc. bolts* from subaruparts.com and the exhaust manifold is now sealed with the passenger side cat - I wasnt liking seeing exhaust gases rise up upon opening my hood... :o
Theres a second leak downstream of that, where the resonator connects to the primary cat - but that will have to wait, as I'm sure its not the cause of my rough acceleration

Didnt cure the problem though - so I did the requisite CEL code pull and got ol' number 23 - MAF sensor. (I tried doing a cone filter in the fender well and it must have fouled up the sensor, as its filthy black.) Currently soaking it in vinegar and keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the input everyone - you end up hating life when your SVX isnt running right and you dont know why



*if they only cost $2 each, order a few extras for when you f*ck up :p

well, the 12 hour vinegar douche improved it somewhat... im not stalling out at idle and the rough acceleration isnt as noticable, but still annoying to the point where Im ordering a new MAF from subaruparts.com.

last annoying question... did I do any serious damage by driving the car with a malfunctioning MAF for 60 miles?

I wouldn't buy a new MAF. Get a used but good one for a lot less.

Driving with a malfunctioning MAF doesn't do damage on anything but your pride. Especially when you're driving across an intersection and your car just stalls out.

well, I already ordered it. I had some extra money from working a lot all week so I said fuggit and sprung for the new MAF. My driver's side window switch wasn't working either, the drivers window wouldnt go down at all and the pass window required a lotta pressure to make it work.

I'm fixing this car up bit by bit, once I tighten the brake band and get rid of the 2-3 flare she won't have a single issue whatsoever! :cool: