How Does My Car Exhaust Header Work?
Exhaust Header is one of the easiest bolt-on accessories which you can install easily in order to improve your engine’s performance. The primary aim of the header is to make it easy for your engine to push away the exhaust gases out of the cylinders. This works by removing the manifold’s back pressure. Each cylinder will have its own exhaust pipe instead of sharing a common manifold. Each individual pipe is cut and then bent so that they are of the same length, which makes sure that each cylinder’s exhaust gases will come in the collector spaced out equally and there is no back pressure genera.
What Are The Symptoms Of A Bad Exhaust Header?
Exhaust manifold is a part of the engine component that is found on all internal combustion engines. They are made of cast iron or stamped steel and are created in such a way to collect exhaust gases from the engine cylinders and to send them into the exhaust pipes for removal. The exhaust manifold is fixed to the engine cylinder heads and has several ports which collect exhaust gases from each individual engine cylinder. Cast iron manifolds are made of one piece, whereas stamped steel ones are welded together. Both components withstand the high stress and heat conditions which are needed to trap and send exhaust gases. Though they are heavy duty in nature, they can still cause issues related to drivability. Usually a defective exhaust manifold will show a few symptoms which can alert the driver that there is some issue.
- Decrease In Power, Acceleration, And Fuel Efficiency
Performance issues in the engine is another common symptom of a problem with an exhaust manifold gasket.
Faulty exhaust manifold gasket can cause exhaust gasket leakage resulting in engine performance issues like decrease in power, acceleration, and fuel efficiency.
The performance decrease might appear to be a minor problem at first but it can worsen over time if not addressed promptly.
- Excessively Noisy Engine
The very first symptom of a problem with an exhaust manifold gasket will be the excessive noise from the engine.
If the exhaust manifold gasket is faulty, then it will produce an exhaust leak with hissing or tapping sound coming from the engine.
You will hear this sound, especially during a cold start or during acceleration.
- Burning Smell Coming From The Engine Bay
Burning smell from the engine bay is another symptom of a potential problem with the exhaust manifold gasket.
If the gasket fails and starts leaking near any plastic components or engine wiring, then the components may burn up because of the heat from the exhaust gases.
This will produce a burning smell in the engine bay as the components were exposed to high heat. Faint smoke may accompany the smell.
If there is any burning smell, it should be checked out as soon as possible to ensure that they are not a potential safety hazard.
