Ok so this has been going on for a couple years now. I have an exhaust leak where the cat meets the extension on my headers. I can feel it when I'm under the truck (on the top side) and hear it when I go by cars/walls/barriers. It's fairly small but its driving me crazy. Everything else is tight.

Last fall I had a local shop weld me up a cat-back system. I figured before they let the truck go they would un-bolt everything and bolt it back up to make sure it didn't leak. Not so. It must have gotten welded on there with out him checking that front cat bolt up.

I tried to remedy the situation by shoving another gasket in there. It didn't seem to help much. Seems like the cat and pipe are at different angles since its only comin out the top.

So my question to you is, does anyone have any solutions to this other than welding it together? I like the option of having things bolted on for removal if necessary. If i had a torch and a welder, this would be a different story... Is there any type of high temp silicon or sealant? I've seen goop that is supposed to patch leaks is this stuff just a mess?

99 taco, x tra cab, 2.7, 4x

 

Put this on both sides of the crush gasket



You can get it at your local parts store its a little spendy but well worth it, its called The Right Stuff

 

Well since I can fit two in there you think on the outside of each and in between the two? Also it says that stuff has a 450 degree temp limit. Seems to me the cat can get hotter than that...
What about the permatex ultra copper around the flange of the cat and flange of the extension? Or is it best to leave those surfaces gunk free? Possibly some kind of clamp? I've hear sealants usually don't hold up.

 

my exhaust had a major leak around the flange (not at the cat, but where the crossover meets the rest of the exhaust. Well the darn bolts were striped off, i just too the lazy/quick way to get rid of those and welded a bead around the flange. It doesn't bother me though, if i have to pull the exhaust ill just cut it and rewed it later.

 

Yeh I understand that. Where my extension butts up to my headers is welded. I would do this flange too like I said if I had a welder. Or access to one. it's a bit out of my budget, and not readily having this or a torch to cut with kind of renders this option useless in my situation.

 

maybe you could go back to the shop that did your work before and tell them youve been dealing with that exhaust leak every since. See if they can do it for free, or if not at a small price.

 

Yeah I might try that although it's been a while. I just looked up the name of the guy that welded my system, great guy and very skilled. Well he died in an avalanche this January. Sad to hear that he was a great guy to deal with.

 

Thats a bummer.

Id call up the shop and let them know, see what they say.
If you were in Norther california id weld up that exhaust leak for you.

if not talk to some local people you know and see if they have a welder. Never know.

 

More than likely they just cut it off before the bolt-up and welded it on from there. If the flange is warped, I'd weld it up before I even thought about taking the header out.

 

From what I can gather now the cat that I have on there is a tad shorter than the stock one. I alternated tightening the bolts (opposite corners) to try to get it centered as much as possibly. Because of the cat being slightly shorter than stock, it seems like the only thing possibly would be to cut the flanges off and put an extension of pipe to mesh up with the pipe and headers. Bolt on stuff sucks.

 

Just wondering if you got your exhaust problem taken care of. The shop is still in business, just new people working there.