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Muffler Leaks

Harley Davidson Exhaust Related Issues

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<!-- google_ad_section_start -->Muffler Leaks<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
Muffler Leaks
Published by glider (Community Liaison)
Published date: Mar 8th, 2009

Some have posted about having a leak where the muffler joins the pipe area an could not figure out what to do to correct this. Here's a few Ideas to deal with this situation.

If you suspect an exhaust leak and are trying to locate it, this works pretty well.
Put on some heavy gloves and start the motor up.
Cover the ends of both mufflers with the palm of your hands and use force to stop the exhaust from escaping. In a tight system you should be able to stall the engine if you try hard enough.

If you have a leak in the system, it will usually result in a hissing sound where the leak is. It's easier if you have a helper on this one.

Also some have said that they hear what sounds like a chirping sound when riding. A good source of this type of sound comes from after market exhaust systems.
If you hear this type of sound, loosen up the 3 bolts holding the tips on the mufflers, push them in all the way and re tighten the bolts. It is an exhaust leak ahead of the tips that can cause this sound.


When it comes to a leak at the muffler tip,it's important that the clamp is positioned towards the end of the muffler which would be to the left in the picture below. If the clamp is not installed towards the end of the muffler inlet tube, it cannot close up the section that is slotted to give the best seal and the muffler may eventually slide off the pipe even with the proper torque applied. It's equally important to have the muffler far enough on to the pipe to cover the elongated slot in the muffler where a leak is very common. I generally check this area by probing it with a pin to make sure before positioning and tightening the clamp. This is the area where the red dot is placed in the picture.
If the muffler isn't far enough on to the pipe, you will get a chirping sound with the engine running coming from this area.



Proper clamp placement is done so the torque of the clamp will compress the flange on the muffler to close it up on the pipe. Sometimes in stubborn cases some high temp silicone may be needed to compensate for some manufacturing irregularities in the pipe or muffler inlet flange.

Next we deal with the muffler clamp itself.
Below is a picture of the factory clamp and it's construction.



You'll notice that the special bolt going through the clamp has a head that is contoured to the clamp itself and that the other end has a spacer that fits into the shape of the clamp under the locknut. You can see the difference in the shape of the spacer in the center and the mating shape of the clamp to the right being different as indicated with the red line in the pic. This is where the proper torque comes in so the clamp seats into the spacer properly and closes the clamp completely on to the pipe for maximum clamp load to insure no leaks. If the proper torque isn't applied, the clamp will not close enough and it will eventually cause the muffler to slide back or even off the pipe. It can also cause an exhaust leak if it only moves back a bit.

These clamps are billed as a one time use but can be used a second time with satisfactory results. A bit of penetrating oil on the threads before removing them helps a bit to prevent the galling of the threads that occurs.



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