As everyone knows, the headers I bought off of Steve came with an e-cutout. We had some initial motor problems with the unit, but now it's fixed. I received and installed it yesterday (my damn back hurts ). When the e-cutout is wide open it makes you wanna But the S/C will come soon, so I'll put it to good use then.

Good news: My exhaust note sounds like a G35/350Z now, no joke. I'll take clips soon.

Bad news: It's leaking (hence, the new tone ). It's not the gasket, but the actual flap. I'll have to seal it up with Red RTV as Steve said and see where it stands from there.


Question:
Will the exhaust leak eventually lead to a CEL?

 

Congrats..!

I've heard Smittys before with the S/C on and man does it scream.. But as I fell behind him I realized how bad it stinks also..

 

Well, got an answer from Steve regarding the CEL.

Yes, it does stink when you get on it. Yuck!!!

 

I don't think the leak will lead to a CEL, maybe an annoying ticking sound, but using the cutout might cause the computer to see lean conditions. There is a O2 sensor behind the cat right?

 

Not sure I thought Steve had it wired through a sim so it wouldn't throw CELs.. I could be wrong though..

 

No just in the A-pipe and in the cat. At least thats all I've seen when I was under the car.

 

there is usually an o2 post-cat to verify that the cat is working properly.

which e-cutout did you get? QTEC? It is a known problem that they leak no real fix around it... I wonder how that RTV will hold up to the temps given out by the motor... exhaust leaks make you lose power (if the cutout's closed) and will hurt your fuel mileage

 

Quite well for many months.

The leak we are talking about has little impact.

 

great man, hopefully it'll work out nicely

 

I fixed the leak nicely with Red RTV. No more leak or annoying G35/350Z sound. But it sure sounds like a NASA space shuttle during WOT.

 

Not on our cars.

The secondary in the cat is just there to monitor the function of the cat. The primary is what's really responsible for collecting critical data. But if Steve had it wired to an O2 simulator like NiteQwill said, then there should be no worries.


EDIT -- I read the posts wrong. It was Jonesi who mentioned the simulator. Nonetheless, the leak wouldn't lead to a CEL. I had a really bad leak at the joint between the header and the downpipe (one of the bolts came off) and it still didn't throw any codes. Of course, the primary O2 died, but that was just weird timing.