exhaust leak effect performance??

[sica]

i cranked up my 03 400ex this morning and it was cold so you could see the exhaust and i noticed there was a little coming from where the exhaust meets the head......i have a full dmc alien exhaust....will this slight leak effect anything...if so how can i correct it??

[AlaskaSpeed]

yes, it will affect performance. Get a new set of copper crush gaskets and retorque. Having the leak there can do more harm than good; ie...burnt valves, etc........JIM

[Cody_300ex]

Originally posted by AlaskaSpeed
yes, it will affect performance. Get a new set of copper crush gaskets and retorque. Having the leak there can do more harm than good; ie...burnt valves, etc........JIM

Well said! ;)

[sica]

where do i get them??
is that the technical name for them so when i go ask for them they will know what i am talking about..

[Aceman]

yes, copper crush gaskets

[sica]

where can i get them??

[Woodsrider]

At your Honda dealer, there about four bucks a peice I think.

Or go to servicehonda.com if you want to screw around with shipping and waiting for the stuff to get there.

[sica]

thanks for the help.....do the old ones just pop out???

[Woodsrider]

If they are even in there, you may have to use a small screw driver to pick them out. But they will come out pretty easy.

[sica]

what do you mean if they are in there???
will they be metal or like a soft gasket...
sorry to ask soo many ?'s but i am engine dumb.....
also could this leak be the cause of my backfiring problem that i can not seem to get fixed?? after countless times of rejetting...

[JOEX]

Some of 400's came without the gaskets, mine didn't have any but I put them in when I did the weld grind thing.

They are metal, kind of like a metal o-ring made of copper.

Joe

[cals400ex]

Originally posted by JOEX
Some of 400's came without the gaskets, mine didn't have any but I put them in when I did the weld grind thing.

They are metal, kind of like a metal o-ring made of copper.

Joe

are you sure they didn't have any in there?? just wondering because mine were black from exhaust and they were smashed so it really looked like nothing was there. however, after some picking with a skrewdriver i realized they were in there.

[Woodsrider]

There were none in mine. But i got my quad used. The guy who had it before me may have tweaked the bike, then put it back to stock when he sold it. But when I had the stock pipe on there it didn't leak. when I put the new pipe and silencer on it I had to buy gaskets to correct a popping at the head connection.

sica, regaurdles if you have them or not, if your backfiring on decel, and jetting doesnt correct it, I would bet that is your problem. If you do have them but didnt replace them when you removed and reinstalled the head pipe, do so now. Then recheck your jetting.

[cals400ex]

Originally posted by sica
what do you mean if they are in there???
will they be metal or like a soft gasket...
sorry to ask soo many ?'s but i am engine dumb.....
also could this leak be the cause of my backfiring problem that i can not seem to get fixed?? after countless times of rejetting...

i believe it could cause a backfiring problem with an exhaust leak. i would get these gaskets. yes, they are a soft metal. if it is still backfiring on deceleration, i would turn your fuel skrew on the bottom of the carb out a little bit and see if that reduces the popping.

[sica]

thanks for all the help guys.....

[BigBadJ-400ex]

I had the same problem, I went out and bought 2 crush gaskets for it..all i can say is good luck! They were a major pain in the ***** to get on and it still didnt fix the leak.....I ended up getting some high temp gasket maker and made a bead around both head pipes..Don't laugh but hey, it worked!!( for now) ...exhaust leaks are teh suck! I hope you have better luck then I did...