Sigh. I replaced it like two weeks ago. I’ve only driven the Civic a few times since then, and didn’t notice anything. Then tonight, I got a better look at the cardboard I had underneath of it (which I kept there, just in case things leaked. And they did leak).
I’m thinking that maybe I didn’t torque things down enough. But I’m also terrified to torque them down any more, as I’ve heard it’s really easy to snap those pan bolts off. Like 10 ft-lbs. I don’t even have anything that will measure that low. So what are my options here?
- Hope that it goes away on it’s own (unlikely)
- Disassemble everything again, try cleaning the surfaces more, and replace the gasket (again)?
- Disassemble everything, and RTV the snot out of everything before putting it back together. (Seems like a bad idea - it’s a gasket. It shouldn’t really require any additional liquid gasket material, right?).
If I do disassemble everything (which is likely), do I still need to replace the funky metal gasket thing on the exhaust? I replaced it the first time. It seems... excessive to have to replace it again, especially when everything is held together with some fairly large springs.
This is partly why I wan’t an EV. I like cars, but experiences like this leave me frustrated. I thought I did a good job, and everything was good. Two weeks later... nope. Cars are fun. Car maintenance out of necessity... often not as fun.