exhaust cracking and leaking

[mikeg7827]

you shouldnt have tried to fix it before contacting the company that sold you the exhaust or hks customer service.

imo i would have just returned it back to the company you bought it from asked for a full refund and bought a different brand exhaust especially if the company is an authorized retailer they should stand behind their product.

[armythug]

Wow

[Cheddar]

Everything is this world has a failure rate. Noting is always 100%, companies can try but it will never be 100%. For this reason is why products have warranty.

[norsamerican]

Should have put the stock exhaust back on shipped it to whoever sold it and let them fix it for you. Now your out 150 bux on top of the cost of the exhaust and all thats going to happen is its going to crack again in a different and/or same location.

[JETRED]

OUCH!! Is Toronto road salt that corrosive?!
You probably shouldn't of fixed it yourself cause it looks like poor quality control on HKS; just putting a bandaid on a broken leg... :c

[Ingen]

Originally Posted by JETRED

OUCH!! Is Toronto road salt that corrosive?!
You probably shouldn't of fixed it yourself cause it looks like poor quality control on HKS; just putting a bandaid on a broken leg... :c

Salt won't crack stainless all by itself.

The middle-of-weld cracks in the first pic are probably due to residual stress, not filling the weld enough, or using the wrong filler metal for the application. It's a localized stress problem.

Judging by how the weld metal is all piled up in one spot and the other piece is completely disconnected (the resonator in the 2nd to last pic) I would say that one is a lack of fusion. It's not like it broke, it just never really fused and stuck. So it came apart on that seam.

What's even more exciting is that *everyone else who has this exhaust* will probably have this problem, as well. it's not like they had one rogue welder grab some half-assed filler metal to do the welds on JUST YOUR EXHAUST.

Other people who own this thing should be checking theirs.

edit: Gotta say, as big as some of those cracks are... I can't believe they aren't leaking. I mean that 2nd to last pic it's COMPLETELY UNCOUPLED. What the hell.

[jumbaco]

Sucks to hear man. HKS doesn't have a US office anymore right? At least you're back on the road.

[bigjake]

So glad I have a Perrin.

[GregV]

Going to have to check mine, haven't heard any leaks but this is disconcerting.

[Skurj]

Hmm... well at least I didn't have HKS on my short list for an exhaust system! Now its completely off all lists..

Send HKS a link to this thread.

[driver01]

Originally Posted by GregV

Going to have to check mine, haven't heard any leaks but this is disconcerting.

Let us know if you find anything wrong, hopefully you will be in the clear.
Which exhaust do you have?

can anybody source the information for hks, or who to contact?
I would appreciate the help, thanks

[GregV]

Originally Posted by driver01

Let us know if you find anything wrong, hopefully you will be in the clear.
Which exhaust do you have?

Same as yours - Hi Power Spec L with the carbon tips installed in September. I've noticed the oxidation on the screws on the tips but haven't looked under the car since putting the snow tires on.

I'll give it a look this weekend.

[wu_dot_com]

Originally Posted by Ingen

Salt won't crack stainless all by itself.

The middle-of-weld cracks in the first pic are probably due to residual stress, not filling the weld enough, or using the wrong filler metal for the application. It's a localized stress problem.

Judging by how the weld metal is all piled up in one spot and the other piece is completely disconnected (the resonator in the 2nd to last pic) I would say that one is a lack of fusion. It's not like it broke, it just never really fused and stuck. So it came apart on that seam.

What's even more exciting is that *everyone else who has this exhaust* will probably have this problem, as well. it's not like they had one rogue welder grab some half-assed filler metal to do the welds on JUST YOUR EXHAUST.

Other people who own this thing should be checking theirs.

edit: Gotta say, as big as some of those cracks are... I can't believe they aren't leaking. I mean that 2nd to last pic it's COMPLETELY UNCOUPLED. What the hell.

the leak seems like a result of poor workmanship. The wield beads are uneven and intermittent. In addition, they also grind down the wield in the sounding joint area which you should never do.

The interesting thing is where the crack is. From the looks of it, the crack is away from the wielded zone. However, the crack location is at the high stress header area. From the looks of it, it seems like a fatigue vibration induce crack.

Typically, those exhaust headers are either made by draw or spun from a disc of sheet metal. Therefore anytime where you have aggressive geometry change, without proper manufacturing technique, the profile change area would become too thin to carry the vibration load which will later become a stress concentrator.

if you have cracks on the wield, then its most likely due to the fact that they grind off the wield beads.

This could either be a manufacturing issue or a design issue. But judging from the quality of this finished part, I would think this is more of a workmanship and quality issue.

[Tradewind]

That is an amazing design - extremely interested in that and would certainly choose it if I was buying. However, there is a real problem there with the metal quality and/or welding, that situation is likely to keep reoccurring. The system needs a fraction more flex in it to the metal is not so stressed