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Hi all,
The Honda my gf has (2001 Honda Civic LX (non-vtec) with and auto tranny) seems to have an issue again. It seems to have gotten the “truck” upgrade over the weekend.From what I can deduce with the 2 min. I looked at it today before going to work, it has an exhaust leak on the front / under the engine. Of course cause the back pressure is sucking (pun intended), it isn’t running too good.
Before I dive into this thing, has anyone had a similar problem on a honda civic? Just wondered if there is something I should look for that might save me time diagnosis where the leak is. I hope its not the exhaust manifold, from looking online, the cat is with the manifold and that makes it expensive.
thanks for your help
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There are two things you can do to look for a leak, you can use smoke or some way of seeing the flow of air and run it along the exhaust while the car is running or you can look for water along the exhaust. But I think that only works after the cat converter.
You may get a CEL soon for the upstream o2 sensor or something even which would help you identify.It could be something as simple as a new gasket. If its a typical set up then you should be able to buy just the new manifold without needing a new cat or front pipe.
U-pull-it’s are my life savers. You can get a working part for very cheap as long as you know what to look for and how to remove it.The U-Pull-It by me doesn’t have any Honda Civics in the model range I need, doh!
But I am hoping its just a gasket as well. I will find out tomorrow night or wed. night. I am in the middle of a set build so I have zero time after the day job to work on this.
Luckily I have a Forester that she can use, even though I want to use that to do the set build, she might get my Buick instead.
oh right… 2001. Just a few years off. So what you can do is buy an aftermarket header and front pipe (if thats what you need) for a bit cheaper. Better quality and a lil bit of HP gain too. Often even big brands like Mugen can be cheaper than an OEM part. But definitely jack the car up and look around for air or water (if after cat) leaks. You can even seal it up with some silicone in between the gaskets. I had to do that.
I had a 1999 honda civic and the cat and manifold were fused together. I took the cover off and inspected the exhaust manifold and I noticed a large crack that extended into the O2 sensor area. I got a new exhaust manifold and cat from the local parts store. It was expensive, but not too terribly bad. The good news was that the new parts came seperated, so if I ever had a problem again, I could just buy the exhaust manifold.
I worked on the same year civic and was able to get my friend a brand new and free exhaust manifold. Honda even did the labor for free. I forgot what the cap for the mileage was, but she was in over 100k. Call ur local dealer and ask them about it, you might get lucky. All you’ll need to give them is your VIN number and they’ll look it up because I believe it was a TSB.
Here’s a video Eric did on finding exhaust leaks, and I think the fix was loose nuts at the donut gasket and a clamp? Been awhile since I watched it.
Good luck bud.
Thanks, I watched that video as well. Just wanted to see if there is a place to focus my search. 🙂 Seems like a manifold crack is where to start looking and work down from there. As this is the original exhaust, hopefully it is just a gasket.
I know to use heat to loosen the nuts on exhausts, and I’ll buy new bolts if I have remove them to make life easier in the future. Good thing I have air tools, lol..
Just be sure to follow the facts and not speculation. Have a buddy hold a rag in the tailpipe while you look for the leak just like what is shown in the video. You can also look for soot marks which would indicate a leak. If you suspect the manifold, remove the cover and look for cracks.
I got into it and got it up in the air and started it. Had the tailpipe blocked and checked it out. The gasket and B pipe are fine coming off the manifold. I found the leak coming from the right side of the engine (passenger side) by where the manifold and engine meet.
This car is an outside car, so taking the cover off while it is on the car isn’t happening. Half the bolt heads are rusted off. So I went to take the manifold off and stripped the top right bolt (looking at the engine) that holds on the manifold and cover.
Any suggestions on how to get a rounded bolt out? When I put this back together, I will be buying new bolts / nuts, especially if I can get this thing welded.
thanks for all your help everyone, as always, it is greatly appreciated.
It’s not a bolt but rather a stud. If it were me I would cut the head off, remove the manifold and turn out the stud with a pair of vice grips. You can either replace the stud and nut or you can put a bolt in it’s place.
Sounds like a plan, either going to get out the torches or the angle grinder. Depends which one I can find first.
thanks Eric
I finally got around to work on this car again. After building a set for a musical, my back decided it didn’t like to work anymore. So working under a car was out for a bit. Chiropractor finally fixed that issue.
I got the bolt ground down with an angle grinder and hit it with a hammer a few times and it loosened up. The bolt holding the exhaust on i blasted with PB Blaster and let it soak for a few days. One spring bolt came off, one snapped, but they needed replaced anyway.
It cracked at the weld between the mounting plate on the top where it mounts to the engine and into the manifold. Is this common? It seems like it will be easy to get it fixed down at the local welding shop.
Now this thing is a mess, the bolt holding it onto the lower bracket is all rusted up, i too the bracket off the engine instead. Also, the heat shield on the top is pretty much totaled from the angle grinding and rusting through the lower bolt locations. Is that shield really needed?
I’ll post pictures when I get a chance.
thanks everyone!
I finally got around to work on this car again. After building a set for a musical, my back decided it didn’t like to work anymore. So working under a car was out for a bit. Chiropractor finally fixed that issue.
I got the bolt ground down with an angle grinder and hit it with a hammer a few times and it loosened up. The bolt holding the exhaust on i blasted with PB Blaster and let it soak for a few days. One spring bolt came off, one snapped, but they needed replaced anyway.
It cracked at the weld between the mounting plate on the top where it mounts to the engine and into the manifold. Is this common? It seems like it will be easy to get it fixed down at the local welding shop.
Now this thing is a mess, the bolt holding it onto the lower bracket is all rusted up, i too the bracket off the engine instead. Also, the heat shield on the top is pretty much totaled from the angle grinding and rusting through the lower bolt locations. Is that shield really needed?
I’ll post pictures when I get a chance.
thanks everyone!
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