You never really 100% sure what you're going to find.
My Focus, shortly after I bought it, started developing what I thought to be an exhaust leak. However since winter weather rolled in and the leak did not seem to be big I just let it be. During the course of winter the leak seemed to get slightly louder and really noticeable at idle and low revs. It looked to me that it was coming from the front of the car. I feared the exhaust manifold would need replacing.
Fast forward to this weekend and I decide to finally find where the leak is coming from.
I had a bit of seafoam left and thought it would be perfect to use for this application. Any leak should be clearly visible with the white smoke that seafoam emits.
After sucking up some seafoam and waiting about 10 minutes, I start the engine and rev it slightly. Lots of smoke comes out the back. I think "great, now I will find the leak for sure".
I crawl under the car and start inspecting the exhaust, staring from the manifold. I can't see any leaks. I rev the engine some more to force the exhaust gasses, but I still see no leaks. I check the exhaust portion after the catalytic converter, even though it was done by the previous owner last year, but everything checks out. No leaks, so it's a good thing, but now the question is: "Where is the exhaust leak sound coming from?"
I shut the car off and let it cool down. After everything is safe to be touched, I start poking around the exhaust manifold area. Everything looks good, but I notice that the heat shield on the manifold moves a bit when I pry on it. Turns out that lower mounting bolt no longer held the shield in place because there was no more sheet metal left around the bolts due to rust. I decide to remove the heat shield altogether since it will be just a matter of time before two other mounting bolts loose their grip due to rust and vibrations.
After the mandatory test drive the exhaust leak sound is gone. The shield must've had just the right frequency to sound like an exhaust leak and it never made that metal on metal sound. It even followed the revs up to 2k RPM. That is why I was certain I had an exhaust leak.
Please share your stories of misinterpreted problems that you or your mechanic experienced.
My Focus, shortly after I bought it, started developing what I thought to be an exhaust leak. However since winter weather rolled in and the leak did not seem to be big I just let it be. During the course of winter the leak seemed to get slightly louder and really noticeable at idle and low revs. It looked to me that it was coming from the front of the car. I feared the exhaust manifold would need replacing.
Fast forward to this weekend and I decide to finally find where the leak is coming from.
I had a bit of seafoam left and thought it would be perfect to use for this application. Any leak should be clearly visible with the white smoke that seafoam emits.
After sucking up some seafoam and waiting about 10 minutes, I start the engine and rev it slightly. Lots of smoke comes out the back. I think "great, now I will find the leak for sure".
I crawl under the car and start inspecting the exhaust, staring from the manifold. I can't see any leaks. I rev the engine some more to force the exhaust gasses, but I still see no leaks. I check the exhaust portion after the catalytic converter, even though it was done by the previous owner last year, but everything checks out. No leaks, so it's a good thing, but now the question is: "Where is the exhaust leak sound coming from?"
I shut the car off and let it cool down. After everything is safe to be touched, I start poking around the exhaust manifold area. Everything looks good, but I notice that the heat shield on the manifold moves a bit when I pry on it. Turns out that lower mounting bolt no longer held the shield in place because there was no more sheet metal left around the bolts due to rust. I decide to remove the heat shield altogether since it will be just a matter of time before two other mounting bolts loose their grip due to rust and vibrations.
After the mandatory test drive the exhaust leak sound is gone. The shield must've had just the right frequency to sound like an exhaust leak and it never made that metal on metal sound. It even followed the revs up to 2k RPM. That is why I was certain I had an exhaust leak.
Please share your stories of misinterpreted problems that you or your mechanic experienced.
