There goes the catalytic converter

[Petros]

yes, I keep forgetting you have the first gen Tercel. no reason for the exhaust to go over a rear axle if it is not there.

there is no issue with not having a cat, either as a hollow chamber or a straight pipe. It was likely so old it was ineffective anyway, without it you may notice an improvement in fuel economy.

[irowiki]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 6700_o.jpg

This is pretty much temp, as we're probably going to buy another cat at some point.

[irowiki]

It is still leaking, between the "test pipe" and the manifold. Or maybe the manifold is leaking. It is nowhere near as bad as before, when the car is moving you can't tell, if the car is stopped you can't really tell, but if I turn on the heater fan, it pulls in fumes.

I did notice the car is louder when cold and quieter once it warms up.

I might try pouring some motor oil down the carb and see where the smoke shows up.

Or I may just bite the bullet and get the whole system redone, as the muffler had some cracks in it. Got a quote for $325 from a local place, which seems high. I did pick up a magnaflow cat on ebay for $62.

Since the wife and baby ride in it often, I may end up springing for a muffler place to fix it for peace of mind, what do y'all think?

[Petros]

did you check your exhaust manifold bolts where it attaches to the head? these bolts work loose from the temp cycling and have to be re-torqued every so often. It will not cost you a thing.

It should not be that hard to track down an exhaust leak in the system. from the head pipe to the tail pipe there is only a few places where it can leak, unless it is rusted through (which should not be hard to find by inspection). if the system is all good, than the only other places it could leak is at the head pipe gasket, the head to manifold gasket, or the exhaust manifold is cracked and leaking.

[irowiki]

The pipe from manifold to cat is covered in some sort of heat shield/skid plate, that doesn't look like it would go back on if I took it off, some of the bolts are very crusty!.

I do not know where those bolts are but I'll look when I get home!

[irowiki]

Okay. I checked the bolts (all six of them) on the exhaust manifold and they were all tight.

So I started her up and started feeling around (easier when cold since the rad fan isn't blowing everywhere) and found this with hot exhaust coming out of it:



I'm going to assume that is EGR related? Looks like this when I took it off:



Looks like some metal was put in there to plug it and it probably worked great until the cat plugged up. What would be the proper way to actually plug it?

[dlb]

it's hard to tell for sure but yes, that looks like part of the EGR. i would remove the bolt closest to the manifold, measure the threads on it, get a bolt to fit it, and stick that in there. i believe it is 20x1.50mm but you should confirm that.

[irowiki]

A few more for better perspective. The cap I took off is a big sucker, needed a large crescent wrench for it!






I tried a redneck repair though. I stuck a bunch of that red RTV stuff I got for the exhaust gasket, stuck it in there with two pennies and tightened it up good. Letting it sit 24 hours for the cure time then will see if it still leaks, if it does I'll try sticking a bolt in there. (My luck, and I'll melt the pennies or something).

[dlb]

ah, yes that is definitely the EGR. your redneck fix just might work. good luck!

[ARCHINSTL]

From a recent thread on the subject:
"As dlb mentions, an uncapped/unplugged steel EGR tube will lead to an obvious exhaust manifold leak; this is easy to remedy.
Just get a bolt sized 20x1.50mm - and also use some shallow washers when installing in the manifold threaded hole.
This is an ordinary bolt - nothing special. This also provides a tad more room."
Tom M.

[irowiki]

So I assume the thing the cap screwed onto would be removed, then put some washers on said bolt, and tada? I think I'll do that instead of relying on my redneck style, thanks guys

[Petros]

So, replacing the exhasust system would have done nothing to stop the leak, like I suspected. it is always good to FIRST diagnose the problem before you try and fix it.

I am pretty sure the threads on this bolt are the same as an oil drain plug (they are on our Mazda anyway), so you can buy a replacement plug from an autoparts store (in the section they sell "Help!" parts in) for a few $ and be done with it.

[irowiki]

I think there may be more leaks, but first I'll patch this one. The red neck patch up did not work.

I was not able to find a bolt yet, would any inch sizes work or would the threads be different?

[ARCHINSTL]

Any hardware store should carry the aforementioned bolt (and prob for cheaper than an oil drain plug).
I got mine from Home Depot's regular bolt stock (not a special order) it as well - or Grainger would for sure, if any are near you.
The washers were needed to keep the bolt from bottoming before fully tightened.
Tom M.

[irowiki]

ACE only had bolts that were three to six inches long, Big R only had english bolts, NAPA only had english bolts, Autozone said "Holy crap that is a big bolt maybe you should go to this fastener place that closes in 15 minutes". Missed that place because of incorrect directions.

Will try the fastener place after work and if not, try Home Depot!

No Graingers around here, or Murdocks (I got the air cleaner to head bolts at Murdocks three hours from here)