Steve Lavigne

My car sounds like it has an exhaust leak. I tried putting a hollow metal tube in my mechanics stethoscope and probing the exhaust system while under the car, but I was unable to locate the source of the leak.

The sound seems to originate from the headers, but I can't find any rushing air in that area. The headers still have the heat shields, so this obviously complicates the situation.

Anything I'm missing? I'm lazy and like oem heat shields, so I'd prefer not to remove the headers and the heat shielding to find the leak. Of course, if this is the only solution, that is what I will do.

Bryans951

You might try soapy water in a spray bottle. You will have to let the car cool all the way down, spray away, then start the car. Once you start it keep spraying. You only have about 2 minutes before the headers get too hot.

Chris Prack

Do that and have someone hold a few rags to cover the tailpipe. That will make it a little easier to find as it will increase exhaust flow out of the source of the leak.

Dave951M

If you have stock headers, they tend to leak at the flange at the head, at the junction of the runners (under the insulation sheilds) and sometimes at the flange to the rest of the exhaust. I'd bet that yours are cracked under the factory heat shields. To fix that, remove the headers, drill out the spot welds, remove the stock shields, have a competent shop weld the crack, wrap the repaired header with DEI wrap, and reinstall. On mine, there was a crack at the flange and runner joint at the head. Took it all off, had it welded and reinstalled only to find the one at the junction of the runners under the heat shields. An advantage to this method of repair is lower underhood heat and if it needs to be examined again, just unwrap the header while in the car to look for any other leaks that might develop. None on mine so far. HTH

Bill

Steve,

Do you have the updated exhaust with the bellows? If not chances are they are cracked at the Y junction.

Steve Lavigne

Thanks for the help guys.

Bryan and Chris, that sounds like a great idea. I will definitely try the cool exhaust, soapy water, partially obstructed exhaust pipe trick.

Dave, I listened quite a bit around the flanges, both with the metal rod/diaphagm stethoscope and the hollow metal tube stethoscope and I couldn't locate any specific leaks. Since the leak likely is in the headers under the heat shields, I guess I will probably need to pull the headers, remove the heat shields, have the leaks welded, and recover with exhaust wrap.

Bill, as I should have mentioned earlier, I do have the updated headers with the exhaust bellows.

I guess I should just verify that the exhaust leak is in the headers, then pull the heat shielding and have them re-welded.