last night, i was making a few runs against my friends civic Si for the fun of smoking him... then i noticed my car was sounding like it had a whole in the exhaust and **** was rattling every once in a while. so i got under my car today and couldnt see anything wrong really untill i saw cracks where each bolt that mounted the header on, they are just straight cracks tho, so im not sure if the header is in fact cracked or the stock header is like that. im kinda new to this ****, so try and help me out.

 

If it is cracked enough to leak then soot will build up in that area. You should be able to hear and smell the leak too!

 

doesn't sound good....haha

edit: wrong section?

 

moved.

 

post up pics.

 

There's a good possibility it's the flexpipe that's split. Without pics, it's hard to say, but check the flex section carefully. My Redline is bone stock and the flexpipe split in half with only 30,000 miles on it.

 

im pretty sure now that i see that pics that it is the problem, and damn its rusted.

 

That is a normal expansion joint that was built into it from the factory.

I see no sign of leakage!

 

yea i just fixed the same problem with mine. where the flex pipe is ended up cracking and made my car run like crap and sound like a pissed off lawnmower lol. it did the same thing you described with the rattling and so on.

 

were exactly is the flex pipe? im guessing the coiled looking pipe that connects the header and downpipe?

 

that would be it

 

Like they said, that is not a crack, it is an expansion joint. No problems there, look elsewhere,, maybe your flextube?

My stock manifold, you can see the expansion grooves at the bottom


Stock downpipe, the flex pipe is on the far right, I would check there

 

Man you guys' **** gets hella rusty back east! Mine was still almost new looking!

You should be able to see lots of black soot near the leak area.