My son has a 2001 GTP which has received a lot of maintenance, so it runs and drives well. It has had an exhaust leak for a while, but when I drove it today I noticed it has gotten pretty bad. Also the lower motor and transmission mounts have to be shot at 182K miles, although the upper dog bones are new (cheap and easy).
At first it would only leak when cold, making a ticking sound. Now the ticking sound has become more of a roar, but only under heavy throttle. Initially the ticking made me think cracked exhaust manifold as it sounded like a single exhaust port. Maybe it has just gotten worse, opening up under pressure. However, the smell seems to be the smell of exhaust *after* passing through the catalytic converter.
Any suggestions of where and what to look for, repair difficulty and expense? How hard are those lower motor mounts? Is it likely the bad motor mounts have contributed to the leak, or do the just let the motor move too much and vibrate the chassis at idle?
