Hey guys, I put the stock headers back on my bike and just wanted to know what to look for in a header leak. New gaskets were used and I hand tightened everything very snug, pretty sure more than the specified torque value (9ft/lbs). How can one be sure not to confuse a header leak for the normal "Honda tick" in the engine?

Is a header leak almost always audible and is it something that can "seal up" once the bike gets hot and the metal components expand? As you know, the header pipes get hot really fast, so I couldn't keep my hand by the ports to feel for air for too long, but I managed to do the best that I can and couldn't really feel anything out of the extraordinary.

Thank you in advance!!

 

after you run the bike and it gets hot "retighten" the header ..... if if leaks you'll see black smoke looking stuff around the header ..... it has a sound of it on if its leaking like a ticking sound...

 

also be careful to not overtighten to much cause after awhile of them heatin and cooling if they are to tight they dont have enough room to flex and can pull themselves out of the threads then have to retap with a bigger bolt possibly another new gasket

 

thanks for the replies but could someone tell me if a header leak is something that can be heard?

 

tick tick tick generally

 

my bike does tick... how do I know its not the normal "honda tick" though?

I noticed for the first few minutes of warm up the bike ticks, then goes away. Is it possible that its still a header leak, but it seals up after some time when the bike is hot and the metals expand?

 

maybe .......all bolts torqued to evenly to same spec' ??.

but Hell if it goes away when warmed up I'd just go with it man.

 

heh I just hand tightened all the nuts fairly snug. Didn't have a tq wrench handy and I know a lot of people just hand tighten these things too. I tried to feel for a leak, each port separately, but as you know, they get hot so fast. From what I could feel, it seems to be fine. but I mainly just wanted to know whether or not I'll hear something out of the extraordinary to warrant concern.

Maybe the ticking is just the injectors or something.

 

take it to a shop and let them look it ...... tighten it up cold then after it you ride it around the block come back and retighten it you'll be fine get it out of you're head or you will here stuff all the time ........