Exhaust Leak, Slight smell of fumes in the cabin Options

[Britain Smith]

I went through the painful process of replacing both rear wheel bearings and CV joints this last weekend and to do this I decided to remove the heat exchangers. It was actually a lot less painful to remove the heat exchangers that I thought it would be, however I now think I may have an exhaust leak. I was surprised that when I removed my heat exchangers, there were no copper gaskets or anything. They did have copper exhaust nuts however, which probably is the reason they came off so easily.

So, should I order up some copper exhaust gaskets and install them with some new copper exhaust nuts? Do orignal 1.7L motors supposed to have the copper gaskets there? What does and exhaust leak on these motors sound like exactly? If I have one, it is very slight cause I can hear something but it is hard to distinguish over the valve ticking.

Any assistance?

-Britain

[Chris Pincetich]

I just replaced my 1.7 HEs and didn't see the gaskets in there either - BUT they were there! You can feel them, with a flashlight you MIGHT see them, but they are hard to see. I had some extra metal from battery hold-down strap project and bent the tip 90 deg, filed/grinded sharp edge, and used my new tool to delicately pry the gaskets out.

Sealing the leaks - I was SUPER nervous torquing the nuts tight. My studs had lots of corrosion and some even twisted out and were screwed back in. My torque wrench set at 20 lbs still felt super stiff when I tested it on a wheel lug, so I used a small socket handle instead. I tightened gingerly, drove a day, tightened again, drove, and every time I got them a little tighter. However, now they are on REAL tight (not sure exact torque) and I still feel hot air comming down from the heads as if they leak a little - IS THIS NORMAL? I think they still leak a tad but barely. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[ChrisFoley]

... I still feel hot air comming down from the heads as if they leak a little - IS THIS NORMAL? I think they still leak a tad but barely. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

You can't tell by the feel of warm air if the exhaust ports are leaking or not. The cooling system pushes enough warm air through there to mask any small exhaust leaks. I like Scott's recommendation of using a rubber hose kind of like a stethoscope.