muffinman142

I just have a quick question. I installed BBK shorty headers a few weeks ago and every time i drive the car when accelerating there is a slight ticking sound. The strange thing is i do not notice it at all when the car is in park and i rev the engine. (That is how i was checking for an exhaust leak) It sure sounds like it is coming from the engine bay on the driver side, at least it does from inside the car. I re tightened all of the connections a few days ago, but i still notice the sound when driving. Just as a side note i did use the gaskets that BBK supplied.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jake

muffinman142

Sorry i forgot to mention the car is a 2014 V6.

Derf00

Does your header have a metal tube going to it that ends up connecting to the EGR system?

Check where the tube connects to the header. You can use soapy water and start it up when it's cold. Douse the area with soapy water. You probably have a leak at the connection point where the tube fits onto the nipple. A lot of times that is a problem area for non-oem manifolds in that the fitting is not air tight. If that's the problem, you will either need to tighten it or use some exhaust sealer between the tube nut and the fitting.

muffinman142

There is no extra connections from the headers. They come off the block and go straight into the cats.


Thanks!

Z28KLR

So you're saying there's no EGR tube?

It's only gonna leak from 3 places.... Manifold/header gasket, collector flange or EGR fitting. Unless there's a crack in the header somewhere, which seems doubtful.

Derf00

Looking at that little tidbit, it may not be an exhaust leak but rather something vibrating under load. Check the cat shields and any plates between the tranny and engine. Make sure nothing is touching any of the shields and that any shields are not loose or bent.

Also, if the BBK gasket was not a metal type gasket, it could be the problem. I don't know what they ship but some header MFG's go with cheap multi-layer non metal gaskets that blow out fairly quickly.

muffinman142

I went down to the ford dealership lastnight and bought a new oem metal gasket installed everything, started the engine let it warm up and then re torqued everything down tight. Still hearing the noise...

Ill take a look at everything i can to see is anything is vibrating. Also is there any chance a CAI could have anything to do with hearing a ticking like sound? Maybe the injectors?


Thanks a lot

muffinman142

Still no luck with anything. I check all the shields ext under the car and in the engine bay. Nothing that i could see would be vibrating. I even reverted back to the stock tune to see if maybe the tune was messing with something. Still hear the noise..
Im starting to lean away from exhaust leak. I think you would hear a leak even if the car was in park/reving. Not to sure what else it could be.


Thanks