Gentlemen, and ladies...I could use the opinions of y'alls various levels of expertise, experience or just run of the mill garage bullshit. I recently installed a 2-1 exhaust on my Heritage. I will leave the vendor's name and manufacturer out of it for now. A discoloring has appeared just past the heat shield that covers the collector, right where the muffler attaches to the pipe. I have never cleaned the pipe with anything not approved for chrome finishes. My "indy" says it's just heat. Tech support from the manufacturer says it's the result of a leak where the muffler attaches to the pipe causing in to suck in air and run lean. The vendor and designer of the exhaust says 1) the tech "smoked" the exhaust during the dyno tune, or 2) it's silicone burned onto the pipe and just needs cleaned.

My take is agreement with the manufacturer's tech support. The rub is the muffler leaked after the initial installation, which my indy pointed out to me. It has been removed and reinstalled three times, each time the mating surfaces and clamp were inspected to try to eliminate a problem. It should be noted here that the header pipe is ceramic coated.

I've included a series of pictures, from the day after getting it from the shop to today, a span of 20 days. The first picture was taken 6/3, the day I brought it home from the shop, the rest all have date stamps on them. Let's hear your ideas!

 

If it's using a Torca clamp to hold the muffler on, those are single-use. Are you using any sort of exhaust sealer?

 

Clamp changed each time. Last installation CopperKote gasket sealer was used.

 

Use Permatex black sealant and that leak will go away. Get a can of BlueJob and the blue will go away.