Exhaust pipes to engine discolored - "leaking"

See the picture here for my exhaust pipes coming out of the engine. Does this imply that one of my exhaust pipes is not 'sealed' properly - like I should re-seat it?

 

New exhaust crush gaskets is part of the re-commission process. That's a single walled aftermarket system which will color. The stock headers are double walled. The leaking valve cover gasket and/or the washers that hold the cover down should also be inspected/replaced.

Gary H.

 

And they are rusty.

 

Wait, when you say "crush gaskets", do you mean part 11 or 12 in the picture attached here.

 

Part 11 in the picture

 

Soak nuts in penetrant oil carefully try to lossen nuts ,unbolt mufflers and remove header ....use a wire wheel in a drill knock off rust... spray paint with Hi Temp Barbecue black paint ...reinstall with new gaskets ...

 

sometimes with mac exhaust(aftermarket exhaust) you have to double up on gaskets, you may also want to put a flat washer and split washer under the nut to keep it tight.
tighten all nuts slowly and evenly across the exhaust pipes not fully one at a time . use proper torque also.

 

You can also just use two standard nuts as jam-nuts if you don't care about the original look.

 

i installed 1x gasket on each exhaust (rather than double up) yesterday but unsure of the orientation of the gasket. the gasket seems directional as the internal diameter is rounded on one side and squared on the other. I installed the gasket with rounded edge to the exhaust - with flat side facing the engine.

I swear it's leaking exhaust.

PS - when I removed it, I only saw 1x gasket on each exhaust on the original configuration.

Here's a link to the pic: http://www.kfm-motorraeder.de/cms/en/genuine-spare-parts/yamaha-spare-parts?itemid=4BR146130000

 

Thanks for the advice. This is my after pic: Changed head gasket and also exhaust gaskets. If you look at what I circled there, I still get leaks with the new gasket. Is it that 'half moon shaped' thing? I forgot to check if this was a piece of rubber that could be replaced on the engine block... I can't seem to find it in the parts pictures.

 

if exhaust is leaking you will see a build up of carbon after a while.
Hold a strip of tissue by each pipe see if it is being blown by the exhaust

half moons here is part number for half moon

Plug 1J7-11138-00-00 $10.79

part 19 on this link
http://www.yamahapartsnation.com/oemparts/a/yam/5004201df8700209bc786d5e/cylinder-head

edited comment of half moon and valve cover gasket

 

I think you mean valve cover gasket. The head gasket requires removing the head. The rubber plug is a valve cover gasket rubber cam-end plug and they are sold separately from the valve cover gasket.

 

On the 650 non yics they are separate.

 

Clean it with some carb or brake cleaner, and if you are careful and neat you can apply some Ultra-grey or Black RTV with a q-tip or something to seal around the edges without having to take the valve cover back off and it wont look bad.

 

I'm having my exaust painted with ceramic paint ant thoughts on thi?s

 

Do it.

 

Wait, I just installed a new gasket on the head cover. If I remove it carefully w/o tearing the gasket, can I re-use it when I put in new 'half moon' plugs?

 

This is what I used: https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.auto-high-heat-paint-flat-black.1000655182.html

 

You know it's funny I have a lot of this RED RTV stuff lying around when I helicoiled my spark plugs (https://www.amazon.ca/Permatex-81160-High-Temp-Silicone-Gasket/dp/B0002UEN1A)

 

yes you can reuse it
you are only supposed to "glue" the gasket to the valve cover not the cylinder head.

does it require you to bake it on ?

down side it the spec

• Temperature range of -65F to 650F intermittent

the black high temp rtv does not use the word intermittent

 

Ew don't use the red or copper stuff, that looks hacked up and sh*tty. My suggestion was to use the grey or black SPARINGLY to seal the weep without having to disassemble things. If care is taken, it can be done neatly and no one would know, and it saves you time and $$.

 

carefully pull the valve cover . and fix it right, rtv the half moons or replace them and rtv in place I would replace them , that way you will not have to go into the cover for 5000 miles when you recheck the valve shim.
sorry to say you may have to replace the VC gasket if you damage it but sometimes the learning curve cost some extra money.
if you want to wait untill you recheck valve shims just clean and smear moons with rtv as suggested. short term fix.

 

Fack.... you are right. I still have to open it up and put RTV in between. Might as well do it right with new parts.

 

The pre-YICS valve cover gaskets are paper. Rarely does one come off clean enough to reuse.

 

I still think it's leaking because I can smell exhaust. I'm tempted to tighten it past the torque setting of 0.8kgf as per the Haynes manual. It's lisTed as "exhaust flange nut".

Does anyone have another torque settings I can use?

 

Don't overtighten! Broken studs suck.

If it's leaking with the factory spec then something else is wrong. Pipes may not be aligning properly etc.

 

1 m-kg or 7.2 ft lb M6x1.0 nut this is the xj 550 spec same nut as 650

consider that the seal you took out was almost flat compared to a new seal it will take a few retorques to fully seat them
and you are using after market exhaust with welded flange not a floating nut ring

with the disadvantage of not being able to aline the pipe to the head, try to center the flange on the bolts

 

Loosen up all of the mounting hardware. Tighten the flanges first, then the rest working toward the back.