In plumbing I remember a guy sprayed soapy water on pipes to check for leaks. Does anyone know the common procedure the garage uses?

By listeneing very closely to the repetitive crackling/putting sound coming from the engine when I hit the accel, i'm not exactly sure right now that the leak is in fact coming from the snapped off front exhaust manifold stud. It does sound like it's coming from the engine but I don't know where.

It can't be post LH & RH Manifold to Y Pipe flange, since those components have already been replaced.

 

Cram a shopvac hose/leaf blower in the end of your exhaust pipe while the car is cool and craw under there and check for any air leaks you can around the suspected area's.

 

There are two(2) places where exhaust leaks typically/most commonly occur on these cars...

1. Broken exhaust manifold studs.

2. Broken y-pipe flex section..

The putting sound you are hearing is most likely from broken exhaust manifold studs, look for black soot around the manifold flanges where they mount up to the heads.

 

When it's not obvious/can't see soot- I like to put the car on the lift while it's running and use just the hose end of my automotive stethescope, works killer. However, you said at least one manifold stud is snapped...............

 

or you can try a lil tranny fluid.
it works like seafoam...cept its waay cheaper.

 

or u can close the muffler tips with something for like 4 or 5 secs depends while engine running and i m sure the smoke will be coming outta the leak and then u will know where to look around...

 

uh......... i wouldn't suggest that.... seems kinda risky...

 

i know but wen i had a leak in my exhaust, i couldn't think of anything easier than that and it worked

 

smoke machine
/thread

 

To pinpoint my exhaust leak, I let the engine suck up some seafoam through the brake booster hose..

 

Aminus, you may want to think twice about using seafoam in the engine. I read a tech bulletin from Nissan that said NOT to use fuel additive cleaners or cleaning solutions in the engine, supposedly it may damage some seals. I used seafoam in the past but I'm staying away from it for now.

 

you can always go to the beach on the sand n rev the car to see where the sand is blowing

 

wat if u dont have a beach?

 

buy sand, or some really soft-powdery stuff??!?!?!?!?! OR u can jus use the smoke thru tailpipe trick, i 4got wut kind of gas it is tho.