got a small exhaust leak/crack.. can't find it
 

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...xhaust%20leak/
can you?

it's got to be tiny, because it's not loud at idle. only hissing and that's under load. so it's probably a crack rather than a hole. but i can't find where it is to fix it. i noticed it while seafoaming, that a puff of seafoam fumes came back up into the engine bay, and upon looking under the car, i saw some coming out from the ypipe, right after the joinup but before the bracket that holds the cat.

the welds are just disgusting, probably done by an amateur. you can tell it was cut and patched, since the flex section was moved down. um... what else? Oh. should i seafoam it again to find the leak? i was planning on using a plaster wrap to patch it until i can afford to put in a WSP ypipe.

a way to help narrow down exhaust leaks/vacuum leaks/other noises in general is to take a 3 or 4 foot length of 1/2 or 3/4" rubber tubing and use it as a s***hoscope. with it up against your ear most sounds will be dampened, but the noises from the other end of the hose will be easier to distinguish. get someone to give it some gas while parked and you're under the hood.

wow, those are worse than my welds!

Thats looks getto mang, I would replace all of that.

in due time.. just looking for a quick fix right now.

Thats the problem,the section of pipe has been quick fixed to death dude,it needs to be replaced.

You might have an exhaust shop cut the section out and replace it with a nice clean section of pipe/weld it up/done,but don't go to a chain type exhaust shop(i.e. midas/meineke/etc.),try to find an old mom-n-pop shop as they tend to have more experience in custom jobs..

my redneck uncle has a shop called Tripp's Tire and Muffler. How's that sound? Dunno if i like to be around him too much. He's a bit too racist for my tastes. Plus my cousin was helping, and he split my coolant hose and I started purging coolant. My uncle said "it'll be fine, the heat will keep it from leaking" but if I didn't know anything about cars, i'd have believed him. but he did give me the proper headsup to know that i was about to put on a bad timing belt. i bought a kit that had a square tooth belt for my round-tooth cam sprockets. what do most VG maximas have?

but my quick fix would be just until i gathered the guts to undertake installation of a WSP ypipe (here's why... (click next twice.. there's a total of 3)). I just want to get rid of the hissing, stop gassing myself to death (my lung capacity is dreadfully shallow... almost like that of a smoker), and make my 02 sensor read all the burned gasses and use even less gas.

Well,if your uncle is a good with a welder:gotme:,then i'd say go to him for the fix.

I also recommend having a shop install you wsp pipe,i had my wsp y installed by a shop due to the same issue as you,severely rusted cat bolts..I had them cut the old y-pipe off about 3-4 inches before the cat,then i had them cut the same amount off the cat end of the new y-pipe./added a sleeve between the two sections/welded the sleeve to the y-pipe and the 3-4 inch section of the old y-pipe/done..

well, i can get a cheapo catalytic converter for like $70. dunno if that cheap of a cat will greatly impede my airflow, or if it's worth getting a hi-flow cat..

Dude like everyone else said, get it replaced at a mom and pop muffler shop as it has be temp fixed too many times. If you want to find out EXACTLY where the exhaust leak is, I suggest using some SeaFoam (sucked through brake booster vac hose) and see where smoke comes out..

that's how i found out i had a exhaust leak in the first place. i just assumed it was a vaccuum leak, but yeah. I'll check around at mom'n'pop shops to see how much they'll want to do that.

got some videos here http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...xhaust%20leak/ if they EVER upload. guh. if not tonight, i'll have them tomorrow night. Internet is just being a bit... fudgy right now.

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...0leak/missing/

is that what i think it is? a broken stud?

^^^^^^^^

Yes sir it is..

that explains why the sound comes from the front right of the car, as desribed on earlier posts in the other thread.

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=MVI_0085.flv
that video is what made me even look for the broken stud. because a cracked ypipe would NOT allow fumes to escape all the way up there.

now i gotta read up on how to change these things.

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...MVI_0088_1.flv finally uploaded the video with in-car driving sounds of the leak. didn't have anything to secure the camera with so it went flying. oh well, it's OK.

you can also hear the PS pump whining while i'm in N at the start of the video.

also is an "ez out" the same as a screw extractor set? i have some of those, but i don't know if it's exactly the same thing or not.

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...missing/tools/
will those be fine?