Exhaust Leak

What makes someone believe there's a leak? Without seeing your car I could tell you that!

A leak is a leak; it makes noise when the engine is running - use your ears.

When you suspect a leak carefully put your hand near it with the engine at idle to confirm the leak - it's HOT so be careful.

Exhaust work is lousy, its crude and dirty, so the minimum effort is preferable to the maximum. A small leak can be repaired with a patch held on with a clamp so don't think a pin hole warrants a new pipe. Eventually that may be needed but until then try the minimal approach.

OK, start with where the problem is.

Your buddy "thinks" you "probably have an exhaust leak somewhere". Why does your buddy think this? Is the car noisy, or does he just get drowsy on long rides and thinks he's getting monoxide?

What you need to repair it depends greatly on where the perceived leak is. Let's start with the combustion chamber, since, by definition, that's where all the exhaust starts out. 1) you have a severely cracked head. That's serious, and you will need a new head, head gasket, and a good bit of time. 2) you have a blown head gasket. You will need a new gasket, _possibly_ a new head, if it's been leaking long enough, and a good bit of time.

3) exhaust manifold to head leak. Don't know on this model whether there's a gasket or what - whatever seals it should be replaced, and you may need the services of a machine shop if you break any of the studs that hold the manifold on. 4) I could go on and on, all the way to the tailpipe tip, but the bottom line is this...

Why do you (or your buddy) think you have a leak, and could you possibly describe your symptoms in a bit more detail?

Conrad

Erm, isn't it illegal to weld on an exhaust pipe?

Cool..... yah, I'm pretty sure thats what the issue is, and i know generally where it is..... i guess i'll take a shot at it though. could be valuable learnign experience. cheers

NO! Where do you live, california????

LOL.

Marty

Maryland. That's what the exhaust guy told me, and let's just say he wasn't using that information to try to sell me a new exhaust, so he didn't have an incentive to lie. Maybe it's because it was the cat?

Definitely. The Cat is a different issue due to it's function in the legally mandated emissions system...

Still, I know a couple of guys that will weld on those too, if they know it's an appropriate fix...

Marty

start off in 3ed gear and see where your RPMS are and when you hit 50 mph shift it to Drive the car should shift and the tack should drop. if not your stuck in 3ed

the case, minus a few cans!

well, i live in a city with no emissions testing whatsoever, so i doubt i need to worry about any of this. good point to raise tho....

Oh, it's noisy. really quite noisy. and there's one spot on one side of the car where it's louder than elsewhere.

Sorry i'm not more detailed in my description, but to be frank i'm not particularly bright, particularly when it comes to cars. I don't think it's anythign particularly serious, since it doesn't seem to affect the car in any particular way. It's not a serious problem either, just noisy, and since i'm both goign thrrough the process of slowly fixing this particular car up and, more importantly, learnign to work on a vehicle myself at the same time, i thought this might be a good project to undertake.

Huh?!!!? Exhaust leak, poolman.

Conrad

OOPS wromg post sorry.

it was for the 6,000 RPM dude

the case, minus a few cans!

That would be the exhaust leak... Listen and follow it back to it's source, and remember its HOT.

Marty