Exhaust leak somewhere - can't seem to find it

[nytebyte]

On my 02 GT, when I have the window down and open the throttle while under load, such as accelerating, I can hear an exhaust leak. I can also hear it briefly when starting the car. It has the stock exhaust on it still.

It sounds like it might be after the muffler somewhere, but I'm not entirely sure. I jacked up the car and crawled under it while it was running to see if I could feel any leaks around the pipes or better hear where it was coming from.

Unfortunately, I couldn't see, feel or hear anything. All the joints look fine and the pipes / mufflers look to be in good shape.

Is there any common place that the stock exhaust system on these cars develop leaks. Any specific area I should look?

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[SONICobra]

time to junk that stock set up... if you dont see any moisture, feel anything try taping a tissue to a screw driver or something that you can stick up into spots you normally cant reach. this is how i found a leak on my header

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

I had a giant leak at the end of my manifolds in my 2000 gt...I still don't know how it ever sealed in the first place. Look how the things are shaped and how the bolts have a spacer on them that serves no purpose :thinking:

 

[Fast99Snake]

you may have scraped the exhaust on a speed bump somewhere and it knocked something loose, probably right at the joint pictured above where the manifold meets the mid-pipe.

 

[nytebyte]

It's a possibility. It's my girlfriend's car and if she scraped it, she probably wouldn't tell me.

That's the only place I didn't look. I'll have to get under there this weekend and check.

 

[nytebyte]

Ok, I finally got around to raising the car up and getting under it for a better look.
Everything looks fine and there are no leaks at any joints.

I had the girlfriend rev the engine while I was under there and it appears that the "noise" is coming from the passenger side muffler. The muffler itself looks fine, at least as much of it that I can see. I can't really see the top of it, but there are no holes anywhere, not even in the pipe welds that are visible.

My guess is that the internals of the muffler somehow are damaged. Maybe one of the baffles came apart and that's why it sounds louder. It's either that or there is a hole on top that I can't see. I'm not really sure.

When the car is revved, you can hear the distinctive "pfft" of a leak when letting off the throttle. I just don't see or feel a leak anywhere, but it's definitely coming from the muffler.

Has anyone ever seen this happen?

Looks like I'm going to need either a stock catback or a very quiet aftermarket replacement. It's gotta be fairly quiet with no highway drone. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[Flyn]

Borla or Bassani with no baffles.

 

[nytebyte]

LOL! Yeah, right!

I already have to start MY car every morning with the garage door closed so I don't piss off the neighbors.

 

[nytebyte]

Well, finally removed the old stock catback and put on a Flowmaster catback with Flowmaster 50 mufflers.

The stock catback looked to be in perfect condition, so the baffles inside them must have been damaged.

The new Flowmaster setup sounds badass, but it's definitely much louder than stock. It's even louder than the FR500 system on my Cobra and will take a while to get used to. I was impressed with the build quality of the Flowmaster system. I hope it lasts.