Exhaust Seals

Has anyone done all of the exhaust seals?

When I did the pickup coil change, the left exhaust pipe at the heads came off and the next joint down the line was flexible enough to push the pipe out of the way just enough to get the generator cover off. Now that the outside air temps are cooler, I'm hearing some exhaust leaking from the left side 'somewhere' when the engine is under load. Being that the bike has over 130,000+ miles on it, I'm guessing the crush gasket needs to be changed (might as well change all four?) but it's the other gaskets I'm wondering about, especially the next one down the line where the pipe is joined.. Is this hard to take apart, easy to change?

Later this winter I do plan to take the exhaust system off to check for cracks in the y pipe.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Seals replaced and same noise but now found where it's coming from..

Left side Y-Pipe aft of the Y and around behind the heat sheild..

How do you get to that part of the pipe to clean and weld when the chrome heat sheild appears to be welded on and blocking access to the cracks? Has anyone done this before?

You talking about where the muffler meets the pipes?

You talking about where the muffler meets the pipes?

Yes, its cracked between the Y and where the muffler connects, but around behind the chrome shield. I haven't removed the Y pipe as of yet until I can figure out how to repair this part without damaging the chrome. There used to be a product around like a heat sensitive tape that would shrink up and make a seal around an exhaust pipe that could be used.. if I could find it. Not an ideal fix but a temp fix until I can remove the Y pipe and take care of the crack properly.

Cheers

I had an absolute nightmare with this. I do have my pipes wrapped. I went to JEGS and got a clamp for it(band clamp). I ended up using heat wrap on the inside and outside of pipe and tightened the crap out of it. No leaks! You may want to close off your AIS system as well....stopped my backfiring completely.

Fortunately, my bike doesn't backfire at all.. I did manage to get some firewall decking tape around some of the crack that took care of some of the exhaust leak but not all of it.. I'll be trying the JB Weld fix soon to see if that will carry me over till winter when I can take the y pipe off and do it up properly.. Expensive part to replace!

well, that worked out nicely! I knew I had an exhaust leak down by the left y-pipe where I could see a couple of holes and cracks.. but I wasn't able to see the extent of the damage until I removed the muffler and put a bright light shining inside the open pipe that all the cracks and holes appeared as the light shined through.. shining the light from the outside into the pipe showed all the openings as well. wow.. I thought I only had a couple of holes but this y-pipe looked like it had been hit by bird shot.. No wonder the tape wouldn't do the job..

Using the light to guide me to the holes, I was able to apply JB Weld over the cleaned up cracks and holes. Looking inside the pipe I could see how the JB Weld blobbed a small bead inside the pipe which looks like it would help anchore the stuff to the pipe, and prevent it from blowing out when under pressure when the engine is running.

Once dried and everything re-installed, it looks (or sounds) like its a decent fix as the bike sounds and feels differently under load. Not sure if I would call this a permanent fix but it should hold until later this winter when I remove the y-pipe and have it repaired or replaced..

Both my y pipes were replaced under warranty for leaking around the weld. This was the only warranty issue I had. Seems it was a known issue? I am pretty sure they are leaking again but not serious enough to replace at around $600.00

Both my y pipes were replaced under warranty for leaking around the weld. This was the only warranty issue I had. Seems it was a known issue? I am pretty sure they are leaking again but not serious enough to replace at around $600.00

From what I understand it's a very known issue.. oddly enough, none of the cracks or holes were at the joining weld holding the two pipes together, they were mostly around the shield bracket welds and around the pipe to the rear of the two pipe joint.. weird..

$600 for that pipe.. ouch..