How can I tell if I am having significant backfires stemming from my engine or if I just have an exhaust leak somewhere after my header? I cant seem to find out what is causing this hickup in my FC ha ha. no it really isnt funny it sucks.

 

Do you have cats on the car? If not, it's going to backfire when you suddenly let off of the gas between shifts.

Tell-tale signs of an exhaust leak are soot marks across the face of gaskets and the change in exhaust tone / noise level.

 

mybe lift the car and see if u can see any "openings" or if the pipes are just not tighten enough from under the car.

 

Good calls I have done the looking under the car. I tightened the bolts and checked the flow or exhaust under the car and cant feel any leaks, however I do also have a cat soooooo. Im thinking just getting new gaskets and replacing them all. cant hurt anything but my pocket right?

 

Yeah once everything is tighened and no leaks are found then it's time to check your motor. lol

 

might be then just backfire. i dono...i like the noise from the backfire. feels like i am making pop corn in my car ^^

 

hm, I don't have a cat and I don't have backfires.. or they are quiet.

 

just gutted my cat the other day and it does the popcorn sound typically between 1st and second sometimes 2nd and 3rd or even 3rd and 4th. It does it when i rev it just right too. i like it tho

 

yummmmm pop corn.........

 

its a long shot but some times the spark plug shoots out and it kinda of sounds like a exhaust leak-

 

I've heard of that. Never happened to me though

As for the popcorn thing, since I have stock mufflers with the RB header and presilencer it makes that kind of sound when idling lol. More of a metallic sound though.

 

I have cats on my car. But sometimes I have some occasional popping from my exhaust. I figured it was just my car backfiring. It doesn't seem to hurt the condition of how my car runs though.

 

Yeah, unless it's a big pop lol, accomp. by a grinding noise haha

 

still yum...pop corn car maker....lolol

 

so this is normal to have the popping popcorn sound at idle cause mine just started to do it i dog the **** out of my car so im just tryen to checkup and make sure i havent broken anything yet

 

it's pretty common so yeah. Once it's warmed up it won't do it as often though. I have a fairly new motor in mine, and it does it. My roomates RX-8 does it as well.

 

my car always pops when i shift above 6000 rpm... but ive confermed exhast leaks just need to get off my but and get new gaskets

 

the haynes manual says poping noises in the exhaust is called afterburn and it lists the reasons why it maybe happening. i dont remember what exactly they reasons were except for one..... timing!! check your timing!!!

 

timing isn't a big one, but you're right, you should check it. NA RX-7s runs really rich so there's always extra fuel in the exhaust. Now add the high exhaust temp and you get pops lol