I have a 98 accord with 120k miles 4-cyl. Exhaust manifold was taken off 8k miles ago to fix a broken stud. Honda dealership fixed the stud, but reused the steel gasket. Ever since that I hear a tick coming from the manifold when I turn my car off after driving a while. Now I know heat expands and contracts and its normal to hear creaking/poping noises when the engine is off and the car is trying to cool down. But, I hear a poping noise even while the car is runnung! One pop then another pop in maybe 1 minute. Car runs normal only this annoying noise. Is this normal behavior or should I be concerned? I took off the heat shield and all nuts are tight and everything looks normal. Has anybody any clues? Thanks.

 

Probably has to do with the sequence and torque applied to the bolts. Inconsistent pressure or bolts to tight will do that... Let it be for a couple of weeks to see if it clears up...

fs

 

This has been going on for about 8k miles or 4 months now.

 

Any chance of taking it back and seeing if they want to deal with it? Definately a sealing problem though.