Hi Everyone,
It appears I have an exhaust leak. I was underneath the car and from what I can tell the leak is "south" of the first O2 sensor at the back of what looks to be a small 'can' or resonator. I'm not sure if that's the Cat.

Either way, the leak is coming from the entire circumference of this part. Is there supposed to be some kind of cap, or filler or something to fill/cover this gap? The sound is coming from it (I used a length of tubing to locate the leak).

Here are a few photos:
Without flash:


with flash:






My main problem here is the fact that I am scheduled to do a dyno run first thing on Friday morning and the local Mini dealer doesn't have time to get it in to look at it.

1. Will this affect performance? (it appears to have -4th gear seems gutless)
2. Is this something that an exhaust shop can fix?
3. Is there something missing in these photos?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Yes that is bad.
Yes you will loose torque with it leaking there.
Maybe your exhaust shop can fix it, seen it done before.
Yes you should replace the entire header.

 

My R53 just did this last night so I took it apart and swear there should've been a clamp missing (fell off) but I guess not. what did you end up doing?

 

I haven't updated with photos of the result, but I had to replace the entire header and catalytic section (both of the cans are cats).

It's a crazy expensive piece ($1800 + core and labour), but my mechanic found a used one (50,000kms) and installed it for $1200 all-in.

Mine is a very clean brake around the pipe. The break is not inside the can/cover. In theory if I could figure out the angle it could be welded/fixed

 

Here are some photos of the point of separation

 

That's a very common failure. For customers that aren't feeling very rich, we weld them back together. It's not a permanent fix, but they've lasted surprisingly well--like years. The cost is about a tenth of the cost of a new header. BTW, there's an underlying cause to this failure: whipped motor mounts. When you fix or replace your header, also fix your motor mounts.

 

Motor mounts - that's a good thing to know! Daymn, I wish I knew that earlier...

 

Mine did that, welded it back together, doing fine now. Didn't know the motor mounts were the cause, next project on my to do list now

Nik