95LX with 189K

i've replaced the muffler and mid-pipe (or whatever it's called) and the tech told me i have a leak below my heat shield ... my car sounds like a friggin moped when i start it up. ... it's something to do with a like by or in the manifold.

i don't know **** about cars, i basically can fix something if someone tells me what to do. so... 1) what is the likely cause or location of my leak 2) is it something i can do myself 3) am i just a ***** with shitty tools ... why can't i get the heat shield off with my socket? is there more to this than meets the eye? 4) how much can i expect to spend.

sorry i'm a little vague, as i disclaimed earlier, i don't know much about cars


Modified by fleetmack at 9:17 AM 7/14/2005

 

new header gasket?

 

Use some liquid wrench on those bolts holding your heat shield on and as race ACCORDinly said replace the gasket just below the heat sheild and it is something you can do yourself.

 

thanks guys ... it's a steel gasket, right? what's a new one cost? or should i go to "pull and save" and pull a used one?

 

I am not sure what it cost but I would go and buy a new one. As far as what it is made of not to sure because I got a copper one with my headers so I don't know what the stock one is made of but I am sure someone can answer that for you.

 

i know everyone always says go for an OEM part, but **** ... it's a gasket!

napa: $7.71
honda dealer: $21.50

Do I really need the OEM for this?

 

pull the heat shield make sure the manifold is not cracked i have seen a few of those but mostly on civics

 

I've also got a cracked exhaust manifold. To get to it you gotta take off the heatshield, which i believe has 3 bolts. Since i was putting a new header in i purchased a new gasket from the dealer for 15 bucks. If your header is cracked, you can either go stock oem at a junk yard or upgrade to a carb legal one like DC Sports.

 

ok guys ... i replaced my exhaust manifold gasket yesterday ... that did solve the problem ... but i have 2 issues (man i'm a dipshit)

1) i realized about 75% of the way through the process i'd need to put the car on ramps as I had to remove the pipe that connects to the cat converter in order to pull the manifold .... so wiht about 3 screws in the manifold i started the car and put it on ramps ... it was running about 10 seconds tops. when i did this the "check engine" light came on ... i figured it was because of something to do with the parts i had off ... no big deal. but now that the install is done, the "check engine" light is still on -- how do i tell why this is on?

2) there's 2 spring-loaded screws that connect the exhaust pipe to the cat converter ... right by the oil pan. i can't get the top one back in as it's pressurized and i can't get enough leverage to push the thing back through, so i've got some noise coming from that part of the exhaust as that pipe isn't tight. any tips on getting the spring-loaded screw back through?

 

ok -- problem 1 solved. i ran the computer check and realized i forgot to plug the air temperature sensor back in when i removed the heat shiled -- no more CEL

still wondering how to fix #2 -- is there some tool or something to compress the spring for that bolt? I need to get that done when I get home tonight as i have a 1600 mile trip i'm leaving for on wednesday.