i took my car to get checked out, and I have a crack in the header. will it hurt running the car with a crack in the header for about a month? i wanna install performance headers but i need to wait a month for the $$$.

also, my car has a tick under acceleration, it sounds like its from the exhaust leak, and i searched on the forums and people said that could be causing it?

thx

 

Without knowing as much as the year of your car, or the engine, its very hard to answer your question in detail. But, in general, a severe leak, close to the head can result in a burned exhaust valve. Even a moderate leak will affect the closed loop A/F ratio control on an electronic fuel injection system, causing that side of the engine to run excessively rich. Not something you want to do, but if its a small leak, remote from the head, you probably won't do too much damage in a month.

An exhaust leak will produce a very distinct "tick", particularly when you open the throttle under load.

 

it doesnt make the tick when just rev'ing in neutral, but it makes it when im actually going... usually not as noticable (or noticable at all) in the upper gears (automatic). sometimes i dont even notice it at all, but then i do later. it can kind of increase in rapidness (i.e. tickticktickticktick instead of tick...tick..tick..tick..

it sounds like a baseball card in the spokes of your bicycle tire, kind of.

 

Does your car act sluggish when you start from a stop? I had this happen due to a loose sparkplug boot. It would studder slightly OTL, tick every so often under sudden heavy acceleration, car would feel fine in the high rpm. I looked at my engine in the dark to see any arcing or loose plugs, boots etc. Hope it helps.

 

yeah, it does studder from a stop... it's like it's getting enough power then kinda dies down a little then goes back to normal... it does only tick when it has that power loss, should i get a tune up and have them replace the spark plugs, would that fix it? or is there an easier way?

thank you