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gaveup · 01-17-2012, 12:23 PM

A couple of months ago I started hearing a faint exhaust leak on the drivers side. Did some investigating and research and it was clear the leak was coming from the drivers flex pipe on decel. No problem. Wrote Invidia and they shipped me out 2 new flex pipes for free. Which was good customer service as far as I am concerned as my ex-gf bought me it and I have no idea what vendor she went to. Finally got them and I figured all would be well.

Wrong.

Sunday night I throw the car up on jackstands and start on replacing the flex pipe portions. Drivers side was done. Fired the car up,drove a bit and heard a little leak from the passenger side. Replaced the passenger side and fired the car up again to check. Whoa, car sounds significantly louder...great. Get back under the car and start looking around. Apparently, the flex pipes sent were just SLIGHTLY shorter than the original. When i tightened the bolts on the rear section it broke the weld on the flange for the X-pipe. So basically the pipes were just kind of hanging there.

Awesome. So now I have a much bigger leak than before and no way to fix at the time (12:30AM Monday morning). The exhaust shop I normally go to opens at 7:30am so I figured I would pop over there a little early and get it rewelded back on.

Get 5 hours of sleep and head to the shop. Guy rewelds the pipes back on (with them on the car, I don't know why he didn't do some spot welds and remove, but whatever). $40 and I am on my way. Until I get home and realize I am still hearing a leak coming from the xpipe area. Turn around and go back to the shop. Guy redoes it and said there was a small leak on the top of the pipe. No problem, welds it up and I am on my way.

Drive to work today and I am still hearing a leak, and it is coming from the rear where the xpipe is located.. Won't be able to take it back until Saturday. I emailed invidia about it and they want $100+shipping for a new xpipe section. I think the price is a little steep as it is to replace a broken weld from them. However, since they were helpful with the replacement of the flex pipes, I can't be mad at them for anything. I'm in no way trying to rip them off.

My only options now are to just wait it out and go to the exhaust shop on Saturday in hopes they can hear what I am hearing and fix it or just say screw it and go with something like the CNT or topspeed exhaust. I really like the way the gemini sounds, but I am not sure if I want to deal with any other issues with welds breaking or flex pipes leaking.

01-17-2012, 12:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
gaveup Enthusiast Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Tamarac FL Posts: 324 Drives: 10 Nissan 370Z MB M6 Rep Power: 180	My Invidia Gemini issues. A couple of months ago I started hearing a faint exhaust leak on the drivers side. Did some investigating and research and it was clear the leak was coming from the drivers flex pipe on decel. No problem. Wrote Invidia and they shipped me out 2 new flex pipes for free. Which was good customer service as far as I am concerned as my ex-gf bought me it and I have no idea what vendor she went to. Finally got them and I figured all would be well. Wrong. Sunday night I throw the car up on jackstands and start on replacing the flex pipe portions. Drivers side was done. Fired the car up,drove a bit and heard a little leak from the passenger side. Replaced the passenger side and fired the car up again to check. Whoa, car sounds significantly louder...great. Get back under the car and start looking around. Apparently, the flex pipes sent were just SLIGHTLY shorter than the original. When i tightened the bolts on the rear section it broke the weld on the flange for the X-pipe. So basically the pipes were just kind of hanging there. Awesome. So now I have a much bigger leak than before and no way to fix at the time (12:30AM Monday morning). The exhaust shop I normally go to opens at 7:30am so I figured I would pop over there a little early and get it rewelded back on. Get 5 hours of sleep and head to the shop. Guy rewelds the pipes back on (with them on the car, I don't know why he didn't do some spot welds and remove, but whatever). $40 and I am on my way. Until I get home and realize I am still hearing a leak coming from the xpipe area. Turn around and go back to the shop. Guy redoes it and said there was a small leak on the top of the pipe. No problem, welds it up and I am on my way. Drive to work today and I am still hearing a leak, and it is coming from the rear where the xpipe is located.. Won't be able to take it back until Saturday. I emailed invidia about it and they want $100+shipping for a new xpipe section. I think the price is a little steep as it is to replace a broken weld from them. However, since they were helpful with the replacement of the flex pipes, I can't be mad at them for anything. I'm in no way trying to rip them off. My only options now are to just wait it out and go to the exhaust shop on Saturday in hopes they can hear what I am hearing and fix it or just say screw it and go with something like the CNT or topspeed exhaust. I really like the way the gemini sounds, but I am not sure if I want to deal with any other issues with welds breaking or flex pipes leaking. __________________ 2010 Magnetic Black Metallic 370Z 6M stillen gen 3 CAI - topspeed test pipes - invidia gemini CBE - UpRev tune 301whp (HP Logic Mustang Dyno)