Shop Discount Exhausts

Is that cylinder firing properly? Does the engine feel like it is misfiring? Have you noticed excessive moisture in exhaust?

i decided to crank over the engine with the plug wire off. there dosent seem to be any change other than a loud click noise. i used a mechanic stethoscope to isolate the noise.

Are you an idiot? Using a mechanic's stethoscope to check plug wires and coils...LMAO

You do understand that 40kV to the head doesn't feel very good, right?

i seen it was connected to the dist. so i didnt touch it directly with the steth. its a pretty loud tick. i put it the intake and valve cover then leaned over and used my ear. so its the dist coil then awesome. i came to this forum to seek help i can take insults and all where i deserve them but im looking for help with my leak. is there anyway or reason why oil would leak out of the head right there?

Using your ear against it is even worse. You do realize that the voltage from a good coil can jump up to 2 inches or more. The spark is looking for ground and your ear or stethoscope would make an excellent path to it. I've never been dumb enough to get smacked in the ear by an ignition system, but I can imagine it would hurt like hell.

Another thing is never ever run a coil open circuited. The secondary voltage has no where to go, so it is going to look for ground. It probably popped a hole through the case because you ran it without the plug wire installed and that is the clicking noise your hearing. Always provide a path for the secondary voltage to get to ground when pulling plug wires.

Your dealing with high voltage, so you need to take some precautions that you're obviously ignorant about.

I'm glad that your insulted, because maybe you'll remember what was typed here.

thank for your education on dist coils. i will remember thats for sure. i did not know that running it with an open plug wire would hurt it.

It's alright....atleast you didn't learn the hard way.

Open circuiting a coil is like putting a fat guy on a treadmill going full speed. The spark is going to find the easiest way to ground even if that means burning a hole through the coil housing.

If you really want to see if the plug wires or coil is leaking spark externally, wait till night time. Take a 12 volt test light with you and connect it to the battery negative. With the engine running run the test light around the coil, wires, boots. You'll see sparks jumping to your test light probe if you have a leak. If you hear snapping from the coil, the coil is faulty.

You may see an aura or glow around plug wires when it is dark, but that is completely normal.

i went ahead and replaced the coil and all the plug wires and tested each wire with a timing light they all seem to work.
the strange leak is whats really eating at me.

It's going to keep on eating you if you keep looking for oil coming out of an exhaust manifold. Liquid oil cannot survive that temperature.

could it be leaking from the head and being pushed into the manifold and the pressure from the exhaust fumes push it out between the manifold and head?

I'll explain this one more time. Oil does not run uphill. It flows downhill, meaning if you find it between the valve cover and the exhaust manifold, it came from the valve cover.

its not a flowing or dripping leak. its a very gradual slow slow seep. and i have looked and looked and looked again at the valve cover seal. after driving it i run a new white rag with my finger around the valve seal and cant pick up any new oil but its still down by the manifold. there is no line that runs down from the cover to the manifold.
in the first pic i posted you can see the oil around the exhaust i believe it crept up through the dirt that is there.

It doesn't look wet to me. are you sure it's not just exhaust soot?

im positive its wet. when i bought the truck there was no stain there.after putting 20 miles on it or so i noticed the dark spot. it was only about a 1/4 inch or so around the manifold. thought to my self..was that there before. i took a mental note. then after driving it more a noticed the spot grew . now it was about 1/2 inch around the manifold. after realizing its growing slowy but surly to what it looks like now.
wich looks a lot like a cover leak. that is why i have thoroughly checked this before i go replacing the cover gasket.
oh yeah and im slowly loosing oil. but idk where its going sence there no drips in the street

I don't know what to tell you. If that cylinder is firing and working normally the temperature can reach 2500 degrees and oil will turn to ash at that temp.

Looks like valve cover gasket to me. You would hear an exhaust leak if it was somehow magically leaking oil from between the manifold and cylinder head.

when im driving down the road i can hear what sounds like an exhaust leak. but it dose not make this noise when at idle. i can gas it at idle and it makes the exhaust leak noise for about half a sec then goes away with high rps but only at idle it goes away. with the engine under load i hear the putting noise of an exhaust leak. its very hard to pinpoit when im doing this myself. i was going to change the flange gasket where the manifold meets the pipe and see if that would get rid of the noise but i dont think that it will.it dosent sound like its coming from under where the flange gasket is but sounds like its coming from the hood

If you're so convinced that it is the exhaust gasket, then just change the damn gasket and be done with it. Why debate it here?

im not convinced its anything? im here for help and to learn something. from what i can tell replacing the manifold gasket wont fix why oil is coming out. it will just channel it into the exhaust. im not looking for a band aid im looking to fix it right. i know i shouldent be losing oil at the rate that i am.
im not trying to debate. you keep saying valve cover i keep assuring you its not but you say valve cover again. i have checked the valve cover over and over a week before i even posted on here. than checked it six or seven more times cause you kept saying valve cover and me thinking ..well maybe i missed something.

OK, we have reached a stalemate and this question no longer serves any purpose so I am going to close it now.

With the engine running, take a rag in your hand and put it over the exhaust pipe. This puts back pressure in the exhaust system. Have someone listen for leaks.

ok found the source of the putt noise. its the manifold on the other side of the engine. at the rear its missing a bolt that holds it on . so its only half on. great trick man i never wouold have thought of that. thats an easy fix too .

the plugs i pulled looked like they were getting too hot. i have read other forums and articles that say it could be leaking from behind the bolt that holds the manifold in place.
i havent checked this yet. or a cracked head?

Again, that oil is not coming out of the exhaust. The stain you see came from the valve cover. Oil doesn't run uphill.

i am 100% sure the oil is not coming from anywhere on the vale cover. i have cleaned all around where the valve cover meets the head and cleaned around the exhaust manifold where the oils is. let it idle for 30mins drove it about five miles on the highway and no oil is coming out from the valve cover. i even used a mirror and lights to inspect the very rear of the cover to be sure it wasn't running from the rear to the front and dripping down. but there was new oil around the exhaust manifold.
i cant make sense of this....

To add to what Nick pointed out, it will cause some real driveability issue by introducing oxygen into the exhaust and really confusing the 0/2 sensor.

Also, please don't post duplicate questions

Thanks for your reply. I am sorry I posted it twice. This is the first time I have used this forum media. Your additional information 0/2 explains a lot more about my problems. The sensor is just below the manifold. I will not drive it again until I replace the manifold. Thanks again for your reply.........Braxton

Thanks for your reply. I did not think about the carbon monoxide. I will not drive it until I replace the manifold. Thanks again for your help..........Braxton

Do you live in a bad neighborhood? Looks like someone stole your catalytic converter.

If the converter is gone, you might want to call the cops and then contact your insurance company if you want to file a claim.

but isn't the catalytic converter in the rear of the car? the first pic is towards the front and the seconds one is towards the back wheels.

damn. now i'm mad. omg, i can't believe someone stole it! this is unbelievable! they must've been really fast b/c i drove the car at 6am and woke up at 12pm. could they really have done it in the daytime?

ughh.

It can be taken off in 2 mins with a battery operated sawzall and the right blade.

wow, well that destroys my peace of mind. how can i stop it from happening again?

that's assuming I can hear the sneaky little bastards. i think i'd rather let the police handle them. our police don't tolerate that nonsense!

Start parking on top of red ant hills. Nobody wants a new cat bad enough to lay on that. You need a new cat now, and hopefully it won't be too expensive. I doubt you'll be hit twice by the same people. Once they come through and hit your car and maybe a few other easy ones they'll bug out of the area. They know well enough that if they keep working in the same area too long people will get wise to what they're doing. If your car was far enough from your house that would be something they look for. A passerby would think they were just working on their own car, and with a fresh sawzall blade I can get a cat out within a minute. Doing it in daylight makes sense because they can appear legit. If they were running that saw in the middle of the night when everyone was at home it would be noticed. While people are at work in the morning nobody would pay attention. Its hiding in plain sight. Lot of burglars have taken to daylight work for the same reason. Just use a panel van or something that looks like a service truck. Neighbors think some contractor is just fixing a pipe. Homeowner gets robbed blind while they're at work or on vacation.

I'd notify the cops since they are getting more calls like this and they might be looking into a pattern of these things. At the least, if they can catch this guy on a different case they might be able to link him back to this if they know about it. Then instead of getting charged on one little case that gets him a slap on the wrist he gets pinned up on multiple charges and the judge can see the pattern. He doesn't weasel down the charges to next to nothing that way.

While he's in court, get a sawzall and chop the cat out of his car.

i like the cat clamp idea. i definitely have to do something b/c parking my car a block away in my aunt's garage will get tiresome. i hate thieves.

thanks everyone for you help! i took it to Bell Tire and I totally looked like I knew what I was talking about. :)

Hey what about combining the two previous posts?

You know the saying:Monkey see, monkey do!

You definitely need to report this.....

I can't say for your state but in CA they passed legislation where recyclers now have to document the people & cats that they are recycling in an effort to stop this kind of stuff.

It got pretty bad here for a while......We had a Caddy in our shop parking lot that lost a cat......

That does suck. Really the only thing you can do is park your vehicle in your garage, if you have one, or a place that doesn't make the car visible to people driving by.

Thieves are desperate and want that quick cash.


Park over a bunch of cacti or some type of thorny bush..LOL

They are carrying battery operated saws-allls and although they will make a little noise, they can have it off in under 2 minutes.

Yep, you don't have to be in a bad neighborhood either. They are stealing them left and right and selling them for big money.

Well, at least they were nice enough to leave you the O2 sensor.

NOt a lot of money and a 12 yr old car.Even if you did have coverage ,the deductable would put you back to square one .If you live ina non emmission state you may be able to get a repair pipe to buy some time . but you eventually need the CAT replaced,,,,,, its federal law.

Not sure what vintage. Does this use a choke plate type heat riser in the exhaust between pipe and manifold?

T

I understand. If the engine uses a heat riser it diverts most of the exhaust to the other side thru the intake manifold. Intake may cool that exhaust on the way a bit and the trickle amount remaining doesn't flow fast enough so may get red hot. Hard to say for sure. Heat risers frequently used a temp sensitive spring or maybe a rod to a diaphragm - I forget the assorted ways that might have been used on a 460,

T