Exhaust gasket

Hey 4th gen owners,

Does your VFR have a gasket where the muffler pipe connects to the headers? It's shown in the parts  but I've never had one on my bike. And I've done all the servicing on it since new. I priced it out at $30CDN from my local dealer but I decided not to get it. I've never noticed any leaks.

What do you think? Should I buy one and install it? Am I damaging my bike? FYI, it's got 158K km on it.

I imagine you have one or there would be no seal between the muffler pipe and the exhaust from the engine. It looks like this

[image: Posted Image]

I've had the rear wheel off several times and never noticed anything there, unless it is like totally stuck to one end or the other. Nothing has ever fallen out. So do you have one? Does it fall out easily when you remove the muffler? Do you replace it each time? Because you have to remove the muffler to remove the wheel.

It sticks in the header side. You would have to grab it and pull it out for it to come loose... My headers are off, let me see if I can grab a with and without pic for you

Okay so maybe I've just never noticed it all these years.

Ok... So I managed only to get a with pic because I couldn't get to pop out, even with a screw driver. So yeah, you've prolly just never noticed it. It's reusable, so unless there's a problem you shouldn't need to replace.

[image: Posted Image]

Yeah that's what mine looks like too. I just figured that was the end of the pipe and not a gasket. The owner's manual makes no mention of it. But the service manual calls for a new one though oddly enough it's not listed in the parts.

Anyway, I've been (unknowlingly) re-using it all this time without any problems.

Thanks for clearing that up.