Lately my max has been getting a loud ticking noise from my stillen y pipe, I tighten the bolts where the y pipe meets the headers and the noise stopped for a day, then the ticking noise came back. So I tighten the bolts again and the noise went away, yet again the next day the ticking was back. I was wondering is this ticking noise because the gasket went bad? Any other thoughts would be appreciated

 

my y pipe does the same thing! i was gonna post about this tonight. when the car is off, it keeps on ticking. when its in park and the motor is running, it ticks. what causes this? anyone experience this?

 

max1ma97se,
It's common for exhaust gaskets to shrink when they are exposed to heat. It is important to retighten to accomodate fro this shrinkage by tightening the bolts periodically. Eventually they will shrink all they can & you will not have to retighten them anymore.

eckohb,
What your hearing when you turn off the car is the Y-pipe cooling off. Kinda sounds like a crackling sound. the ticking you hear when the motor is running is a exhaust leak. Just tighten up the bolts & the noise should go away. That is ofcourse if the gaskets are not blown out, tore or damaged some other way.

 

the bolts were tightned by hand by me, then with air tools at car x, so its no leak. its the same ticking as when the car is off.

 

Heat makes metal expand, when it cools it contracts...

 

So that soft ticking, cracking is normal? I was always wondering about that.

 

[QUOTE=nostrixoxide]max1ma97se,
It's common for exhaust gaskets to shrink when they are exposed to heat. It is important to retighten to accomodate fro this shrinkage by tightening the bolts periodically. Eventually they will shrink all they can & you will not have to retighten them anymore.

so how many times should i tighten before i say sqrew it and put in a new gasket btw it makes the ticking noise when the car is on

 

max1ma97se,

If you have retightened them a few times & the noise remains then you should just replace your gaskets. If i'm not mistaken the gaskets on the maxima are not the old school flat metal coated paper type, but they are the copper o-ring style. So I highly doubt they are blown out, but maybe bent & causing a slight air leak. You have to make sure to tighten them evenly or they can leak. Kinda like how you would tighten the lug nuts on your wheels (in a patten & alittle at a time) The simple fact that you mentioned by tightening the bolts the noise went aways for a day or two kinda points to the seals being the problem.