*** BEWARE Kook's header gaskets ****

[budoboy]

I just had new Kook's long-tube headers installed on my SRT8 Charger yesterday with the aluminum gaskets provided by Kooks. High temp sealant was used on both sides per instructions and locking ARP header bolts ($70) were used as an extra precaution against leaks.

I drive it to my tuner (SVS in Sacramento) yesterday and he did a smoke check on the headers as he had problems tuning two other SRT8s with Kooks headers. In those cases he found the Kooks-provided gaskets were not sealing. He switched to OEM exhaust manifold gaskets and had no further problems.

The tuner found one of my headers were leaking like a sieve at the gasket.

I telephoned Josh at HHP and he told me he doesn't use the Kook's header gaskets either because they don't work and often blow out shortly after install. This will cause the car to run roughly.

He told me he also uses the OEM exhaust manifold gaskets because he had to eat replacement costs on several sets of Kooks gaskets.

My installer put on the headers while the heads were out of the car for significant time savings while doing a head/cam install. I am now going to have OEM gaskets swapped in for around $600 in labor (estimated) plus the gaskets (relatively cheap).

No one told me that this was an issue (I wish I had known) and Josh said Kook's had changed their gaskets (for the worse) in the last year. Please use the OEM gaskets and save yourself a bucket of money!!!!!!

I called Kook's and left an angry message which I don't they'll reply to. My opinion of their company had greatly diminished because of this. My installer also said their O2 sensors took an hour to make fit as well. In addition to this I was shorted a bolt for the midpipes and one of the headers was bent at the collector end from the factory (Kooks box was perfectly intact and not dented).

What pisses me off is that you think these guys would know enough about headers to either make a decent gasket or at least suggest using the OEM ones.

[Heavy H.P.]

Kooks really is a good company but i cant figure out why they are half assing these headers when it comes to our cars.

[Super T]

Yeah dude... I used OEM :-( Where do you live??? I'll help w/ the header install, stupid to pay $600, just buy new bolts and head gaskets and fluids and we'll get 'er done if you're local. The O2 sensor extensions were wrong for mine too... I talked to several companies, including Kooks, the company that makes the extensions, and the company that supplies the connectors for the extensions. Bottom line, they confirmed that the extensions in the kit fit the R&D O2 sensor sent to them by Dodge when the LX's came out. Apparently it's not uncommon for manufacturers to change connectors. He said that the C6 'Vettes went through FOUR different connectors within a 12-month period. Nothing a dremel couldn't fix - an hour seems excessive.

[budoboy]

Thanks for the offer to help but I'm in California. The car is in a shop about an hour and a half away, the car has no exhaust on it, I have a 4-year-old with me on all my days off, etc, etc. so I'll let someone else do the work.

I think the O2 sensors took so long to modify because my friend was doing them while under the car while on his back. He charged me a lump sum for the install so it didn't matter to me how long it took.

[Junior]

Thanks for the heads-up. I would be more skeptical if it weren't Bob saying so, but if that's what he says, I believe it.

And it seems there are others who experienced the same thing, so thanks again for the heads-up.

[hemiuberalles]

budoboy,

Hate to tell you this... within the last year or so, I got tired of having my headers tightened, so I called Kooks and asked them what to do. The recommended Stage-8 locking bolts and the the "new" OEM gasket. Apparently Dodge updated the gaskets due to some problems. 8000 or so miles later I'm still good. I had a different mechanic do the rework. He has a lift and loosed the motor mounts to properly access some of the bolts. I paid $500.

[Hal'sMag]

Stock gaskets
6.1 stock pan head exhaust bolts
Nord Lock SP washers, which fit the entire pan head bolt.

A true no leak solution, much cheaper than the stage 8's.

[MarylandSpeed]

Most header manufactuers supply gaskets that are inferior to the factory gaskets. It has been that way since the beginning of time. Kooks at one point used a paper gasket, which was even worse than the single layer metal one. The most common issue we see with the Kooks gasket is that people don't use the sealent like instructions say, or they do not full surround the ports with it. Even then, sealent is sealent, and it can fail.

These situations are a tough one. All the GM guys reuse their stock gaskets and throw the Kooks ones away. The same applies to Hemi owners...the factory gasket is stout enough to be reused several times. I try and tell everyone this that I talk to...but because of the internet nature of the business..we only talk to a fraction of the customers. Some of this also falls on the installer. I am inclined to say that if you have a mechanic who throws away a perfectly fine factory multi layer steel gasket (that requires no sealent), and replaces it with a single layer metal gasket and sealent...you need to find a new mechanic. A parts changer mentality is not what you want when doing any kind of performance modifications.

That being said..I am really prodding Kooks to get this resolved. I think the issue is...they were told these gaskets would work fine than the paper ones they had, and they bought several thousand.

[BobCrespo]

Hi Jeff
As you said the headers were installed exactly as Kooks specified.Sealant on both sides of the gaskets and torqued correctly.

I've had this issue with 2 other cars that came in for tuning.You can't properly tune these cars with even the slightest exhaust leak.
Neither car had an audible leak but the o2 sensors were inconsistent so we rigged up our smoke tester(normally used for Evap diagnosis) and found the leaks.So when Jeff came in first thing we did was the smoke test and sure enough they were leaking already.Funny thing is Jeff's car was open headers with only a few miles and without ever seeing any back pressure.

We just finished replacing the gaskets(with OEM) and they're sealed up just fine.

As soon as were done with the X-pipe she'll be ready for the dyno.

Word to the wise...use the factory gaskets so your tuner doesn't end up bald like me.

Bob

I just had new Kook's long-tube headers installed on my SRT8 Charger yesterday with the aluminum gaskets provided by Kooks. High temp sealant was used on both sides per instructions and locking ARP header bolts ($70) were used as an extra precaution against leaks.

I drive it to my tuner (SVS in Sacramento) yesterday and he did a smoke check on the headers as he had problems tuning two other SRT8s with Kooks headers. In those cases he found the Kooks-provided gaskets were not sealing. He switched to OEM exhaust manifold gaskets and had no further problems.

The tuner found one of my headers were leaking like a sieve at the gasket.

I telephoned Josh at HHP and he told me he doesn't use the Kook's header gaskets either because they don't work and often blow out shortly after install. This will cause the car to run roughly.

He told me he also uses the OEM exhaust manifold gaskets because he had to eat replacement costs on several sets of Kooks gaskets.

My installer put on the headers while the heads were out of the car for significant time savings while doing a head/cam install. I am now going to have OEM gaskets swapped in for around $600 in labor (estimated) plus the gaskets (relatively cheap).

No one told me that this was an issue (I wish I had known) and Josh said Kook's had changed their gaskets (for the worse) in the last year. Please use the OEM gaskets and save yourself a bucket of money!!!!!!

I called Kook's and left an angry message which I don't they'll reply to. My opinion of their company had greatly diminished because of this. My installer also said their O2 sensors took an hour to make fit as well. In addition to this I was shorted a bolt for the midpipes and one of the headers was bent at the collector end from the factory (Kooks box was perfectly intact and not dented).

What pisses me off is that you think these guys would know enough about headers to either make a decent gasket or at least suggest using the OEM ones.

[budoboy]

Hi Jeff
As you said the headers were installed exactly as Kooks specified.Sealant on both sides of the gaskets and torqued correctly.

I've had this issue with 2 other cars that came in for tuning.You can't properly tune these cars with even the slightest exhaust leak.
Neither car had an audible leak but the o2 sensors were inconsistent so we rigged up our smoke tester(normally used for Evap diagnosis) and found the leaks.So when Jeff came in first thing we did was the smoke test and sure enough they were leaking already.Funny thing is Jeff's car was open headers with only a few miles and without ever seeing any back pressure.

We just finished replacing the gaskets(with OEM) and they're sealed up just fine.

As soon as were done with the X-pipe she'll be ready for the dyno.

Word to the wise...use the factory gaskets so your tuner doesn't end up bald like me.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I can't wait to see what it does on the dyno.

Jeff

[Peter Parker]

Just wanted to resurrect this thread since I had the same problem...

[cold85]

i never use header gaskets just machine the header and use sealant

[Server2]

i have the supermaxx dyantech headers and gaskets on my car for 2 years now with regular header bolts and 20,000 miles later and i never had an issue.... am i lucky???

[Hemi31]

Before you guys go panning Kooks did anyone notice the instructions that say not to use the new gaskets unless the factory gaskets are trashed?There have also been countless threads saying to use the $6 per side gaskets from Mopar so these problems don't happen.As far as the 02 sensors not fitting it sounds like they tried to install them in the midpipes before they were in place.

[STREET LIFE R/T]

Before you guys go panning Kooks did anyone notice the instructions that say not to use the new gaskets unless the factory gaskets are trashed?There have also been countless threads saying to use the $6 per side gaskets from Mopar so these problems don't happen.As far as the 02 sensors not fitting it sounds like they tried to install them in the midpipes before they were in place.

YUP....

Only issue I had with my kooks headers was that I noticed that the installer did not get a good turn on most of the headers bolts. Lucky I got the stroker installed and was able to get a good crack at the headers with the heads off the block...