I just installed DC Ceramic headers on my 2006 Xb today. Part #: SHC4401 from DC. Supposedly no one has had any problems with them on an 06, but here's the problem I'm having.

The install went fine and it is snug against the exhaust manifold, but when the header goes down to meet the down/cat pipe there is a donut that fits on the end which is in good shape no cracks/etc (this car has 900mi on it)and that forms the seal along with the spring loaded bolts. But no matter how many times we reseated everything (4x to be exact) I still have a leak. And its definately more pronounced under throttle/WOT.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? I can't go around with that leak, while it's not going to cause any major issues, I'd like it to perform properly and give me a proper sound. The only difference is that in the stock header there's a bracket which bolts it to the frame which keeps the assembly rigid, but on the DC headers it does not have that. I'm wondering if I could somehow seal it with some flexible high-temp silicone just to close the leak?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
=cz=

 

Well when i said we test fitted the headers on the 06's, I meant we installed them on, not just tested them. When i first put the new header on i had no problems with a leak at the downpipe. But after I installed my new header back exhaust, i did have a leak. I had to drive about 10 mins home from work with the leak and when i got home i jacked the car up gave it like another 10mins to cool abit and then wrenched on the spring loaded bolts to tighten them down. I got atleast another 3-4 full turns out of them, after they had heated up a bit. I dont why the seized up in the first place when i installed the exhaust, but the heat broke them free and allowed them to go the rest of the way in. You might give this a try. When you tightened the two spring loaded bolts did you here the springs start to compress?

 

Yeah the springs were compressing, and when I look from the top of the engine bay they look like they are pretty clamped down.. but I guess now that it's heated up I can always back them off and re-tighten... Someone mentioned to me that i may have tightened them unevenly on the first try and malformed the donut gasket (shrug)...

Is there anything else I can do if it still leaks? Like some high temp/flex form of sealant? I"m not sure what sort of problems this might cause...

 

I would say stay away from the sealant, maybe a new doughnut would work. But try the bolts again and then go from there.

 

I just bought a new doughnut from trdsparks.com so once that arrives I'll play around with it a bit more.... and see what happens...

I'm just hoping this new donut/etc fixes this leak.. it's not terribly bad but it's noticeable...

 

So trying to tighten the bolts didnt' work?

 

I've tried tightening the bolts.. they won't go any further yesterday when we did the install... I may try them again tonight and see what happens.... hopefully i'll have some light...

 

so.....


did you ship the springs cz3ch???
answer my pm's please...

 

I didn't have pm notify turned on, PM sent and your item was shipped
Ciao

 

roger that
all fixed now :D
sorry for the OFF-TOPIC

 

After installing my OBX header it sounded like I had an exhaust leak but it wasnt an exhaust leak.After about two to three days it went away.I read somewhere that the computer has to get used to it and then it just sounds awesome.Dont know if thats what is going on with yours.

 

I put my hand down near the b-pipe and header.. and air comes out... so it's leaking.. i guarantee that ;)

 

Well then thats a leak for sure.

 

I just did my buddies Xa with the DC header...same issue....Im going to put it up on the lift and hit the bolts with the torch and see if I can get them to tighten more....Ill update you in a day or two...

 

I had a small leak down by my donut gasket as well. I figured that it wasn't seating properly. Here's what I did - it may or may not work for you:

- I rotated my donut gasket about 180 deg.
- I coated the donut gasket with some of the silver antiseize as an additional 'lube' to make things slide a bit easier.
- I then tightened the B-pipe to the header with the same length metric bolts I bought from the hardware store. The reason I did this was to tighten down on the gasket just a "little" more than normal and make it conform.
- Doing one side at a time, I pulled out the HW store bolts, and replace it with the stock bolt/spring combo. I also put a little of the silver antiseize on the stock bolts to make them thread easier into the header flange.

The leak was gone after this was done. I realize this procedure may have been overkill, but I wanted it done once and for all. The slight 'overtightening' was just to fully seat the donut gasket in case there were any small dents causing exhaust air to pass through.

- Al

 

That's a great idea ... thanks for the tip.. my ZPI turbo should be here soon so it kinda negates my need for this.. but we have other cars that could benefit from the tip

 

I torq'd mine to spec, which kinda makes me laugh now that I think about it.. Those bolts have a mushroom stop on the bolt that will seat up against the header when torq'd down.

I always cringe when I hear someone doing all that work and using the old donut gasket. Those gaskets are made to comform once. I've read numerous posts of folks doing it without an issue.. I'm happy for them. My luck doesn't run that way...

I say buy a new gasket.. Torq it to spec and or if you don't have a torq wrench.. Get on those bolt with a 14mm and tighten each side a turn or two, EVENLY tightening them down until the mushroom protion of the bolt seats up against the header, then give it a good snug tweek and call it good.

And one other thing, I would suggest never using any sort of chemical sealant on our exhaust system. O2's are very expensive, inducing chemicals on any part that could leak, get sucked into or outgas into your pipe could cause the O2 to go **** up.

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