Alpine951

I have been trying to find what is the noise I have been hearing from my car lately. It is a valve, tappet type of noise. I noticed this white powdery residue on one of the header pipes coming right off of the head. It is the pipe next to the one that is closest to the firewall. I used the old heater hose test , like a stethoscope, holding the hose to my ear and at the same spot on each of the pipes right where the flange is at the head. Just the one with the powdery residue made noise with the heater hose test. I tried hooking up a fog machine to the tail pipe that I had not used in a bout five years but it apparently is broken. Can't feel anything there when the car is running. The 1stt pic shows the suspect pipe in the middle. The 2nd pic is just the suspect pipe, and the 3rd pic is a different pipe for comparison.

Jherriott

I have a header leak on my 951, no visual clues as the leak is under the shrouding... however the car reaks of fumes so bad that I can smell it on my clothes after! Do you have anything like that? A dead give away

Jase.

Alpine951

Never had any fumes until this morning..I put aquart and a half of ATF in the car yesterday and idled it for a half hour and then drained the oil and put in 10w40 since it is getting colder here.. 40 degrees this morning going to work. I also put in a quart of Marvel Mystery oil. This morning driving to work I had the windows closed because it is colder. Don't know why but I did smell some type of fumes. Weird thing is now I hear the ticking when I accelerate although it is less noticeable after the car is warmed up. With the windoews open I can't hear it that much. I may go and buy a new fog machine and hook it up to the tailpipe to see if doing that will show a leak where the picture shows.

I am trying to determine if it is a leak or if the ticking is due to lifter problems.

rlm328

Start your car and use a feather to look for leaks. You can get one of the long ones at a pet store. They have them in the cat toy area. When you run it past a leak you can see the feather flutter.

Alpine951

Another good idea!!

gruhsy

There are better ones at adult stores....I've heard

Good idea

kent426

Spray soapy water on the area when it is cold and start the car, see if it blows bubbles.

manticore33

An exhaust leak at the flange can sound like a noisy lifter. Try tightening the nuts. I had a very pronounced noise which I thought was a lifter but was a loose nut on the exhaust header.

tjbreen

I have a spare set of welded up headers here in Mass if you want to try them. I had them welded up locally after noticing that exhaust was coming back out towards the head from under the heat shields. Once I removed them and cut off the heat shields it was easy to see the cracks. I couldn't wait for the welder after dropping them off and bought a low mileage set to replace them.

You are welcome to try them to see if that is your problem. Without the heat shields it is much easier to identify the source of any leaks.