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I have a 96 civic. 144k auto. When I start the car it smells like gas but not bad after it idles for a while. It also seems a little loud under the hood. Its like a buzzing muffled sound. Im wondering if maybe the cat needs to be replaced or something. Im only getting about 25-27mpg.
There also seems to be alot of clacking and ticking. Loud valvetrain?

 
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Check for exhaust manifold crack/leak.

 
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yea ill do that. auto zone wants like 720 for a full exhaust system its crazy.

 
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What do you have, a dx? Then you have the 1-piece cat/manifold. I payed 170 for mine, made by dorman. But ummm, I don't know if I can recommend it yet because It may be leaking.

Honda oem is like 350.

 
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yes i have dx. 170 for what a manifold and cat? wheres the best place to get that?

 
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if you smell gas and your car is not on fire, id say your exhaust is leaking, check where it bolts into the exhuast header where your 1st o2 sensor plugs in that tends to crack before anything else!!!, if you feel like your gonna fall asleep this is a sign of get out and into the fresh air!!!!! lol. or youll probably wake up in a hospital, this happened to my uncle who drives a big rig, pulled over for sleep and left the truck running, he woke up and fell out of the truck to his knees (he`s fine) but be carful if exhaust fumes are leaking into your car... check your acceleration cables to make sure there is a little slack on the cable, maybe your injectors are rattling????

if your car has a fuel problem it probley would be giving you misfire codes, any backdrafting from your cat if its clogged could cause misfires to, a p0420 code i think, cat below threshold should be present if its clogged or desired heat inside the cat is not reached would cause heater malfunction??? any cel`s???

jack up the front end, and determine if the noise is coming from the intake side, the exhaust side, and slide underneath and listen near your oil pan... any better idea where the sounds are coming from????? the noise could be a belt, is it loudest when you first start the car??? my car revs up to 2000 rpm when i first start it in the morning untill it warms up then drops to about 750.

your valves may need adjusting if never done and if your engine ticks(all the time, this will be on the intake side mostly), mine ticks and im gonna do the valve lash soon!!!! i think all civics tick a little!!! vw are the worst tho!!!! however there is a perfect step by step DIY in the manual for your car!!! go to canadian tire, $15 and for all the knowledge the manual gives you, its worth it.. if you work on your car alot, try to do everything yourself, the first thing you need is a manual!!!!

you can buy and install a brand new full magnaflow ss exhuast system for $400-500 with some basic welding skills, everything front to back except for headers. check the net first before asking your parts store, to get an idea of how much profit they make of you!!!! sometimes its cheapest to order online but sometimes worth the extra $50 the go to the parts store and have same day or next day delivery!!!

 
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This is the one I bought:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dorma...Q5fAccessories

But you might want to try this one since it's all steel:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1998-...Q5fAccessories

 
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Oh you're in cali, nevermind.

 
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whos in cali? im not in cali. you say yours is leaking?

i just saw paceseter headers for about the same price and it comes with the down pipe unlike the catted manifold. i might just go that route. who needs the cat lol

 
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You need the cat to pass emissions. I don't know if it's leaking, I'll really have to smell.

 
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do the smell test???? if you smoke park your car in the garage and blow smoke at the headers (with car running) if theres a leak you will obviously see the smoke swirling!!!! if that dont work wait till your car is cool and mix soap and water together and spread it where you think its leaking, it will bubble if it leaks... why would you smell your exhaust for a leak?? unlikly there is not enough to smell if you cant see the hole

you dont need the cat unless you wanna pass inspection with no trouble

if theres a heat shield flapping around rip it off, theres nothing there to melt anyway. youll prolly need to cut it, it's prolly riveted on, dont cut the rivets out tho, leave a peice of metal around the head of the rivet so the layers wont fall loose..

 
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Yeah I was just not motivated. You gotta understand that I'm really really bored of working on my car, been doing it for over 3 years now and I'm pretty much done finally. So I really don't want to open up the hood anymore, but I am curious about that leak. To be honest with you, if I put my hand next to the exhaust manifold, I can feel a lot of air flow. We're talking about a big leak here I think and that's why I said "smell it." What that means is that either it's leaking from the header side, or in between manifold and cat. I will do your test.

I'm definitely returning this thing if it's leaking that bad.

I will get back to you ASAP.

 
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Well there's no leaks anywhere. I did the smoke method but not the smoke. The thing is, on my stock cracked manifold, I was experiencing better performance than on this one now that I think of it and it's really taking a tole on my gas mileage. I have never gotten 30mpg before. The flow on this thing is all wrong and it feels like the car is being held back.

I'm going to take it back and go OEM.

 
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Here you go dude. An oem manifold, 270 shipped. That's an excellent deal. Majestic charges 400+shipping. I don't have the money for it right now, so I threw back my old one with the crack. The flow is much better on the stock one! And btw, I get the same symptoms you described: Gas smell when engine is first turned on, then goes away once it's warmed up. Obviously it's my cracked cat. But even with the crack, it's better than that dorman pos.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

 
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that sucks that the new mani isnt even as good as the old broken one! yea the smell isnt a full gas smell but its the smell of deluted gas. you know what i mean. it makes me think the cat is bad or something.
you say that you never got 30+mpg? best I got with mine was 28.5mpg but thats when i bought it 3000miles ago. havent had it to long. i figure maybe ill get more mpg if i change the cat idk.

I may get that mani when i get some money

 
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I said I've never gotten as low as 30mpg. With the old cat, I got 40mpg highway, 34 minimum city.

 
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Did you get an oem manifold? how did you know the dorman wasnt flowin very well?

 
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Actually, the dorman may be fine. What happened was a seperate problem which caused my car to run poorly, and I assumed it was the dorman manifold.

No, I didn't buy a new manifold and I returned my dorman. I will buy one soon, but it will be oem just because they aren't that expensive from that seller on ebay. I'm currently running my oem cracked manifold.

 
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i decided to get a cheap header with no cat. i dont care about the emissions. if it throws a code oh well. i just dont want the car to act up. im wondering if ill get some better mpg without the clogged cat and exhaust leaks. im getting 30 mpg mostly highway with this manifold and cat which isnt to impressive.

 
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I get 40mpg highway with the stock setup. The dorman manifold isn't cast properly and does leak, I forgot to mention that. It's cheap.

What kind of motor oil are you running? I know from experience that honda's like castrol and valvoline.

 
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the header i went with is actually a racing header with o2 bungs. i got it off ebay paid total 55 bucks. i just want better mpg than i get now and i would be happy.

there is 5-30 in there now. i debated about the 0-20 or 5-20 whatever else honda recomends. i dont belive it. 5-30 has been proven for a long time. whats your take on it?

 
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hmm came into this thread thinking it was the hood squeak on the EM2 civics and was looking for a fix... keep forgetting 7thgencivic is now civicforums... fml