Thread: Easy way to spot exhaust leaks?

Well my car is backfiring and lagging/studdering and its either cause by my bad o2 sensor, or i have an exhaust leak somewhere. When the cars running, it seems to me like i hear more sound near the front of the car than i do the back tail pipes. Its kinda hard for me to find exactly where it is, especially when my intake is sucking in air and make that loud as hell hissing sound. Is there any easy way to find the leak if there is one?

seafoam

or a cold morning at start up should show a leak, look under the car too resonators rust out to and tend to sound like a fart, like mine right now.

Does seafoaming make a huge difference? My car has 115k miles and i'm positive the previous owners haven't done it.

It'll help and when you start it back up after doing it you'll be able to see where you exhaust is leaking from because smoke will be coming out of it.

Well, your problem could be any of a dozen different things. But I certainly wouldn’t believe an exhaust leak is causing your problem.

But, you’re correct, it is time for you to replace that O2 sensor. On a related note if you do Seafoam the car, replace the O2 sensor AFTER doing it. And yes, Seafoam really does work. It does a great job for what is was intended to do. That said carbon build up may not be your issue.

But it could be the MAF, a clogged cat, or who knows. Have you scanned for codes?

I scanned about a month ago and got P0137, the o2 sensor and thats it. I don't know if its changed since then. I'll have to get it rescanned. I'm also getting the o2 sensor changed tuesday so i doubt I'd seafoam before then. I also changed my oil last week..shouldn't you seafoam before you change oil? Should i just wait until i have to change oil again?

I'm courious about seafoam , what does it do for any car ???

seafoam helps clean out the inside of the motor the stuff is great i've used it on every vehicle i've owned.

no need to change the oil, if you dont put it in the crankcase, putting it down vac line just sends it into the cylinders and gets burned and causes the smoke.

Over time an engine will get carbon build up which will hinder performance. This mainly occurs when the Owner drives the car at a slower pace and never really "gets on it."

The seafoam will break up the carbon and clean the internals of the engine.

It can be purchased at any parts store and added to the brake booster vacuum hose in small doses over several minutes. Some like myself opt to add the seafoam via LIM vacuum source.

Is there a tutorial anywhere to do it on our cars? I've seen multiple ways, not knowing which way i should do it for my car.

I know there are videos on Utube of ppl doing it. As a few ppl have already said, just use the brake booster line to add it. Put like half in the gas tank, then pour the rest down the vacuum line while the car is idling. You really can’t go wrong, just be aware your car will likely smoke a lot. Seafoam-ing is independent of oil changes, but if your engine is really gummed up it is possible you could get a chunk on a spark plug or kill off the O2 sensor. The product it self doesn’t hurt anything, all the crap it kicks out of engine could though.

On my gtp i just pull the brake booster vacuum line and pour it in the vacuum line with the car running. I use a whole bottle. Then i immediatly shut the car off for about 10 min then start it up and the smoke show starts.

Originally Posted by Compg4me

I've heard that running seafoam thru the supercharger can eat the coating off the rotors. Any truth to this? Any other way to run sea foam that's not thru the brake booster?

I know it does from personal experience. I believe there is a writeup in the how to section.

To answer the OP original question, I believe seafaom was suggested because it causes alot of smoke, and it will help find the leak. Have a friend put his hand on the back of the tail pipe while you search for the leak after seafoam is used.. You'll find a leak in no time.

Here, this will answer all questions about seafoam.. Also there is a how to vid . Sea Foam Sales Company

Originally Posted by midrange

To answer the OP original question, I believe seafaom was suggested because it causes alot of smoke, and it will help find the leak. Have a friend put his hand on the back of the tail pipe while you search for the leak after seafoam is used.. You'll find a leak in no time.

Here, this will answer all questions about seafoam.. Also there is a how to vid . Sea Foam Sales Company

What you could do is have someone take a big rag, not their bare hand, and plug up the outlet for the muffler to block the exhaust, that will build pressure in the exhaust system and you'll hear the ticking of the exhaust forcing it's way out of the leak. Just listen around for it. Dont just put your hand on the tail pipe, you'll burn the crap out of it, lol.

As for the seafoam thing, yeah there will be smoke pouring out of whatever exhaust leak you have, so that's a good flag... when I did my seafoam I had 2 of my primaries on my powerlog just spewing smoke. I knew I had a leak but I thought it was the gasket I didnt replace... actually had the welds crack on the plog.

Originally Posted by txslow6

Originally Posted by Compg4me

I've heard that running seafoam thru the supercharger can eat the coating off the rotors. Any truth to this? Any other way to run sea foam that's not thru the brake booster?

I know it does from personal experience. I believe there is a writeup in the how to section.

Not only the possible supercharger rotor coating, but any carbon that's developed on the rotors taking up space. dsmuts said in another thread to run it through the vacuum T under the nose of the supercharger. But here is some links I found:

http://www.grandprixforums.net/seafoam-2-52385.html
Grand Prixs Of North America • View topic - Seafoam writeup
This has been asked a few times lately so hate to say it, but might need another sticky or at least something in the writeup section. I didn't find anything there doing a search.