I'm becoming more familiar with the exhaust on my GL -- started with a rattle that I isolated to the front cat. I disassembled the Y-pipe and heat shields checking for other leaks and rattles, and satsified myself that all is in good condition. I've also inspected the mid-pipe and muffler sections (on the car), and it's in good shape.

 

Nice to live in the pacific northwest where we have constant bathwater conditions to flush off the rust

 

Anyway, here's my question. On the weekend I ran it up to temperature, and held a rag tight against the exhaust tip. I know the backpressure is supposed to cause the engine to lose power and maybe even die..... But nothing happened. It kept purring away without even losing idle speed. I held the rag there for at least 10 secs.

 

Went under the car again while idling, and nothing's leaking.

 

I did this just out of curiosity, and now the curiosity is killing me.... What's going on? Isn't backpressure supposed to kill the engine?

 

-- Mark

well, I don't know if a rag will stop the engine or not, but a friggin board of wood would.

 

Plus, I don't know that you want to do that... if you're exhaust isn't completely 100% awesome, you might blow a gasket or hurt something.

 

I say inspect the heads, and all the sections of exhaust from looking into them.