RSX850i exhaust smell and loud in cab

[tater]

Hey all, I have a new to me RSX850i that has a lot of exhaust smell in the cab and seems overly loud. I did check the pipes to the can and they seem tight, but you can't see much as they have a heat shield on them. Looking online these machines are loud in the cab to start with, but not too many posts regarding broken pipes and or exhaust smell in cab.

[Gwbarm]

Exhaust smells in cab is not good can be dangerous. To get that you have aa leak somewhere if not at the pipes maybe look at the manifold on the engine thats closer to the cab but you should notice a different sound if that is bad. 

[Mech]

Get a cotton rag and have someone hold it hard against the exit of the exhaust, while it's idling, till it starts to build up pressure, and you look and feel with your hand for exhaust leaks which should show up easily with the pressure. Sometime doing something like putting a  spray of water or a gas torch near where you suspect a leak will show it up if it's too hot to put your hand near. If the exhaust is sound the engine will probably die, but if it doesn't die it should build up enough pressure to make it hard to seal the exhaust with the rag. If no pressure builds up, you have a really big leak and it may not puff out noisily so you need to check better. Also, some exhausts if they don't poke out enough from the body can allow gases to be drawn up the back of the vehicle and into the cab. Sometimes adding a six inch extension helps.. Probably not the case here but might make a difference if gases were getting caught under the body somehow at slow speeds.

[tater]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm going to try your suggestions mech and hold a rag to the exhaust creating to a restriction and observe/feel for leaks.

also does anyone know how to tell if it has a sport exhaust can?

[Gwbarm]

Good plan!

[tater]

Hard to tell where the exhaust is leaking from with all the heat shielding on the pipes. I think I'll remove the pipes and pressure test them

[Mech]

Did it build up pressure ? Is it leaking ? An exhaust leak was only one possibility for fumes in the cab.

Unless it has a leak that makes a hissing sound when you have a rag blocking the exhaust, it's not likely to leak any amount of fumes under normal driving, not at least, unless the muffler or exhaust is partially blocked.

[tater]

Sorry for the late reply Mech, when I plug exhaust with my hand wearing gloves and using a rag, there is no change in sound at all and no build up in pressure. You would think if the leak was this large I could find it easily. The issue is the pipes have so much heat shielding on them. I need to remove the pipes and inspect. Just need to find the time to get it done, Hopefully this wknd I'll get them removed

[Gwbarm]

It does seem like it would have to be very obvious if it was large enough to get that much into the cab. Seems to me it should be close to the engine to get in the cab that bad. Is it an exhaust smell or a rich running engine smell ,sometimes the fumes from an engine thats running rich can get in there very easily.

[tater]

It's definitely exhaust smell. It also feels like I have a cab heater, it gets really warm in the cab! I agree with you that its close to the engine where the leak is.

[Mech]

Ok. Yeah heat shielding can make it hard to detect a leak. If there's no pressure build up though then there must be a leak somewhere. If you rev the engine slightly while it's blocked off it may make enough pressure to hear. 

[tater]

I'll try that before I take the pipe off, just need to find a helper to rev it up. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

[Mech]

Brick on the throttle ? Stick between seat and pedal ?

[Gwbarm]

Pour some oil in the cylinders and run it and see where the smoke come out, or stick a potato in the exhaust pipe .

[tater]

Haha, you guys have all the answers! Don’t want to blow the machine up just yet! Brick on the accelerator may blow it up and then problem solved no more exhaust smell, I’ll get a stick and adjust it to give me some revs.

 

 

[Gwbarm]

No pun intended but sometimes my old school antics are rather comical. 

[tater]

Well finally had sometime to look at this exhaust. When throttled up still very little exhaust coming out the can.. I took the pipes off and zip cut the insulation off and found that both pipes were blown out on the bends. I tried welding the pipes but the are paper thin in that area. I'll bite the bullet and order some. I'll try to post some pics, maybe it will help someone down the road.

[Mech]

Ok good work. Pity you had to pull the whole thing to find it though..

[tater]

Heres the pics. Thanks for sticking with me Mech

[Gwbarm]

That is strange it almost looks like it just blew out, but both the same spot,  and you didnt even put a potato in your pipe. The last photo metal does look thinner than the first  I would have expected better from John Deere. It almost looks like metal fatigue or a production flaw.

[Mech]

Yeah bad design there. That pipe's got a seam along it, both of them do, and it's right around the outside of the bend.  It's well known that exhausts always burn out on the outside of the bends. They should have that seam at the sides, (two piece bend), or on the inside.. 

That's rather alarming that they would do that.. They would have known better.

I gotta say that the Japanese are really hot on customer satisfaction and they are fastidious about getting things really right. That and their very cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices, and they come up with amazing good machinery.