Exhaust problem

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tylerrogers94

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i believe I have a exhaust leak in my 73 duster, I took to multiple places to figure it out and everyone says they can't find anything or they say it's a old car, you will smell exhaust. I understand that but when I start driving the exhaust starts giving me a headache and my eyes burn, so I am pretty sure they are wrong. I have a new exhaust system, only thing that isn't new is the exhaust manifold. It is the original one to my 73 duster, could it be the exhaust manifold is bad?
 
Checking for exhaust leaks, which this may not be:

Get the car safely where you can access, IE on a hoist or safely blocked up. SAFE

Get a friend and some rags that you can hold on the tail outlet and cause pressure if needed

Get a scrap of hose......fuel hose works fine, 1 1/2 or 2 ft, whatever

Hold the hose up near one ear, and "sniff" the hose around. If there's a leak, you'll find it

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What the LIKELY cause:

Leaky place in car body, ANY leak in the body, sucking in exhaust. Inspect rear trunk body plugs, rust holes, inspect the trunk gasket. Get in the trunk and close the lid. Have someone move a powerful lamp around the trunk gasket. Move the light around under the car looking for light coming up from below.

Pull the back seat and carpet and or inspect from underneath for rust holes and other openings.
 
This needs to get fixed, ASAP. Exhaust fumes are very bad for your brain and body.
The tailpipe needs to exit out from under the body.A competent shop will find the issue fast. It's just not that hard.It's just a matter of restricting the exhaust at the tailpipe, and seeing where else the spent gasses are coming out. At this time of year, and outside, in the morning on a cold engine/exhaust system, it should be easy to spot. The exhaust will be laden with moisture and it will come out as steam.

As Dell alluded to, it is possible for these fumes to enter the cabin if the end of the tailpipe is sitting in place that,at speed, is apt direct some exhaust back into the car.

If it's leaking under the hood, and the cowl seal is defective, or there's a hole in the firewall,(like around the speedocable, or a clutch down-rod,etc), those fumes can get into the cabin real quick.This is cuz at speed the underhood air-pressure is higher than the in-cabin air.
 
tylerrogers94 said:
i believe I have a exhaust leak in my 73 duster, I took to multiple places to figure it out and everyone says they can't find anything or they say it's a old car, you will smell exhaust. I understand that but when I start driving the exhaust starts giving me a headache and my eyes burn, so I am pretty sure they are wrong. I have a new exhaust system, only thing that isn't new is the exhaust manifold. It is the original one to my 73 duster, could it be the exhaust manifold is bad?
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O.K,what are you actually owning,& working on? Agreement on exhaust fumes,my Scamp killed me,until tailpips added. I did a smoke test,found a leaking trunk lid seal....
 
I am assuming here that the car itself doesn't leak - no holes in the floors, trunk etc... So, how many miles since the new exhaust? did you redo the exhaust manifold gaskets? like most new installs - go back after the first 100 miles or so and double check your work - it is easy to miss something during installation and things do loosen up some - re-torque it all.
 
Many times when customers complain of exhaust fumes in the car it is due to them being sucked in from the rear from forward motion. This is expecially noticable when having a window partially open.

Things to check are but not limited to

Trunk seal
Tail light seals
trunk floor or trunk/quarter extension rust hole
Trunk floor pan or any rear plugs missing

The fumes are usually more noticable with a window partially open while driving.

A good test which looks sort of stupid is to temorarily add long extensions to your tail pipes at least 1 1/2 feet past the rear bumper and take it for a ride. This gets the exhaust past the vacuum point at the rear of the car. I had to do this several times to prove to customers that I was right before they would agree to a repair.
 
Is the engine original to the car? 340 manifold on a 318? A leaking exhaust manifold will make a ticking sound usually and it is often mistaken for lifter noise.
 
AJ/FormS said:
This needs to get fixed, ASAP. Exhaust fumes are very bad for your brain and body.
The tailpipe needs to exit out from under the body.A competent shop will find the issue fast. It's just not that hard.It's just a matter of restricting the exhaust at the tailpipe, and seeing where else the spent gasses are coming out. At this time of year, and outside, in the morning on a cold engine/exhaust system, it should be easy to spot. The exhaust will be laden with moisture and it will come out as steam.

As Dell alluded to, it is possible for these fumes to enter the cabin if the end of the tailpipe is sitting in place that,at speed, is apt direct some exhaust back into the car.

If it's leaking under the hood, and the cowl seal is defective, or there's a hole in the firewall,(like around the speedocable, or a clutch down-rod,etc), those fumes can get into the cabin real quick.This is cuz at speed the underhood air-pressure is higher than the in-cabin air.
Click to expand...

Yeah I am going to do that in the morning, are their any shops in oc or so cal that can help me if I can't figure it out on my own?
 
I redid the trunk seal, I have a cracked right head light, missing speedo cable, and the hood does not sit right it was damaged in a fender bender years ago. The window seals are old
 
Well I would say even if you had bad seals or whatever, the exhaust still shouldn't be that bad unless you didn't have tailpipes. They work wonders and sound/ look better too. If you have tailpipes it's definitely leaking somewhere. Can't be that hard to spot especially with it being cold out. I think AJ said something about that in an earlier post. It's possible that your manifold could be warped or maybe the gasket has finally given up.
 
alpha13 said:
Well I would say even if you had bad seals or whatever, the exhaust still shouldn't be that bad unless you didn't have tailpipes..
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Sorry, "not." There are many many vehicles, which if they have a leak from the rear of the car, trunk, tailgate (wagons) etc they will suck air into the car caused by the vacuum back there. The same vacuum that causes your rear plate to "run dirty." Tail pipes will NOT cure this. Read what OldManMopar posted above.
 
hum - so it's a 6 and you're thinking that replacing it with a new 6 will resolve the problem...? could it be a simple matter of the old 6 is just running so poorly that nothing short of either A. your planned replacement or B. a complete overhaul of what you have, will fix this......? they (engines) smell like hell if they ain't tuned right.
 
ScampMike said:
hum - so it's a 6 and you're thinking that replacing it with a new 6 will resolve the problem...? could it be a simple matter of the old 6 is just running so poorly that nothing short of either A. your planned replacement or B. a complete overhaul of what you have, will fix this......? they (engines) smell like hell if they ain't tuned right.
Click to expand...

This.. , fix the damn exhaust first..,and tune it . it's not fuel injected, & it's going to be work..
 
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