Exhaust leak from tube.

[5.0Dell]

What is this tube called? It connects to the header. Apparently it’s leaking and I’m wondering if I can remove it and cap both ends.

 

[badass98svt]

EGR
Exhaust Gas Recirculation

 

[5.0Dell]

EGR
Exhaust Gas Recirculation

Can I remove the tube and cap it off at both ends?

 

[apsmith49921]

Yeah you can do that

 

[badass98svt]

Can I remove the tube and cap it off at both ends?

Yes

 

[RAU03MACH]

What state are you in
The emissions test will show up that you have a check engine light
Some states won't have it
Just check make sure

 

[5.0Dell]

I’m in Alabama and thanks for the info.

What state are you in
The emissions test will show up that you have a check engine light
Some states won't have it
Just check make sure

 

[shovel]

You can tig weld it, or have it tig welded (it's stainless) or some people bend up a piece of copper tubing as a replacement which seems to work OK.

EGR isn't "just some smog thing", it does reduce nitrogen oxide emissions but it also improves fuel efficiency and part throttle response by maintaining dynamic compression ratio & prolongs the life of your valve stem seals by regulating combustion temperature - and it has no downsides whatsoever.
Your engine's fuel and ignition advance strategy are based around it functioning so if you delete it without also deleting it in your ECU you will have too much ignition advance & run rich at part throttle.
You can delete it and lose the benefits but you have to tell the ECU it's not there, also.

 

[ttocs]

it would probably not be hard to weld it if you know someone that can weld.

 

[5.0Dell]

You can tig weld it, or have it tig welded (it's stainless) or some people bend up a piece of copper tubing as a replacement which seems to work OK.

EGR isn't "just some smog thing", it does reduce nitrogen oxide emissions but it also improves fuel efficiency and part throttle response by maintaining dynamic compression ratio & prolongs the life of your valve stem seals by regulating combustion temperature - and it has no downsides whatsoever.
Your engine's fuel and ignition advance strategy are based around it functioning so if you delete it without also deleting it in your ECU you will have too much ignition advance & run rich at part throttle.
You can delete it and lose the benefits but you have to tell the ECU it's not there, also.

View attachment 22942

Thanks! As of right now it’s hard to tell where exactly on the tube the leak is coming from due to it still being in place. Where exactly on the tube could be culprit?

 

[shovel]

It's a 10" long tube and if that photo at the top is yours my guess is it cracked at the expansion "accordion" and somebody glopped some jb weld over it.
So to repair it you carefully remove the tube, try to chip away the epoxy (assuming, again, that's your photo at the top) and then tig weld it or bring it to a machinist/fabricator to have it welded. Won't be much like 20-30 bucks probably.

 

[5.0Dell]

It's a 10" long tube and if that photo at the top is yours my guess is it cracked at the expansion "accordion" and somebody glopped some jb weld over it.
So to repair it you carefully remove the tube, try to chip away the epoxy (assuming, again, that's your photo at the top) and then tig weld it or bring it to a machinist/fabricator to have it welded. Won't be much like 20-30 bucks probably.

Ahhh I gotcha! And yea that is my photo. I see how the previous owner “tried” to fix it. I will remove it and get it welded up the right way. Thanks!

 

[RAU03MACH]

I’m in Alabama and thanks for the info.

If your going to get rid of that delete your smog pump as well along with the tubing plug the heads on the rear

If you don't have emissions test
That would be up to you
I got rid of all of it down to the cats

 

[shovel]

From the looks of that photo a previous owner probably already deleted the secondary air pump.
For what it's worth, the EGR is not in any way related to the secondary air pump or the cats.

EGR has actual performance and efficiency benefits and even if you literally hate clean air you would still want it to be there on your car to improve efficiency and throttle response and extend the life of your oil and seals.

The catalytic converters exist both to reduce harmful emissions and to reduced the nuisance smell of a catless car. It is a real nuisance smell and for my own part I prefer to not smell it. I know I won't change any minds on that.
The secondary air pump, or "smog pump" exists for the sole purpose of feeding oxygen to the catalytic converter because the function of the catalyst is to oxidize some uglier molecules into less ugly ones, and exhaust is not a good source of free oxygen so it has to get pumped in from the outside. On some cars prior to OBD2 there was air injection upstream of the upstream oxygen sensors which both enrich the precats and serves as a telltale for failure or tampering.

Modern engines with variable cam timing and more precise fuel control, as well as somewhat different catalyst structures can do away with the external smog pump and EGR at the same time by using cam timing tricks and fuel trim to sneak extra oxygen through & enrich the surfaces of the catalytic converter, and retain some exhaust under light and medium throttle to produce the same outcome as EGR without the external plumbing.

I know that's more info than was asked for but a lot of the same conversations that keep happening over and over could be helped by introducing a little context so we better understand them.

 

[RAU03MACH]

If its tuned right there is hardly no emissions smell
I have none of those problems and my car still performs well

 

[shovel]

With respect, I cannot more emphatically disagree about the "tuned right = no smell" opinion. It's a bit like how smoking indoors used to be a thing everywhere and nobody really noticed it but today it would be pretty shocking to sit down in a McDonalds where half the guests were having a smoke.
Where I live there is no emissions testing and plenty of people go catless for those glorious 0.001 horsepowers it earns them and I always try to avoid getting stuck behind them. Thankfully they're never difficult to overtake

 

[ttocs]

no matter how it is tuned you will smell the difference between a car with and with out cats. I had cats on it and when they went bad I went to an offroad pipe ad with side exhaust on a stale day there were some lights I was rolling my window up. I ended up putting them back on.

 

[07GtS197]

I drove catless mustangs for years and never noticed. After driving other cars I can totally tell now lol. They do help with sound but I don’t mind my cars a little more tame nowadays.

 

[badass98svt]

I actually enjoy the smell.

 

[RAU03MACH]

like my dad says if you cant handle the gas oils smells the getting your hand s dirty
you should not be a mechanic.