So here's the deal - I beached my Prelude on a curb (hard to explain but it wasn't a duh type event). And soon after I noticed an exhaust leak. It turned out that the flex pipe was broken, so a muffler shop welded another one on. But that one started leaking too. So then I installed the stock header and that one started leaking too. So I'm eating though flex pipes.

A couple of the mechanics suspected the motor mounts, but I brought it in to Honda and they said that the motor mounts are fine and it was due to me missing the bracket that links the header to the chassis.

So here's my questions:

1) Can motor mounts be BAD (i.e. give too much play) without actually being broken (i.e. cracked).

2) Could my flex pipe problem be from not having it bolted to the chassis?

3) What should I do? Should I get a new flex pipe welded on and bolt it up to the chassis & risk it being broken again, or should I replace the motor mounts outside the warantee & pay for it out of my pocket & get the pipe replaced just to be sure?

Any help is appreicated.
Cheers!

 

Anyone?

 

The motor torques under acceleration and to a lesser extent under decelleration.

Because of how the motor sits in the Prelude chassis , the exh. system needs the flex pipe.

If you're eating through flex pipes it could be: loose motor mounts, missing exh. hangers or worn motor mounts.

I've gone through 3 flex pipes in 6 years and only had 1 bad motor mount (front) so it leads me to believe it's just a part of the car that wears over time and like everything else eventually ***** itself.

So, recheck the motor mounts and fix the missing bracket/hangers.