LeSabre :: 2001 - Exhaust Leak / Smoking Under The Hood
Jan 11, 2016
My son's 2001 LeSabre (3800 N/A) was smoking under the hood and the odor was entering the cabin. I decided it was likely due to coolant and oil leaks from the valve covers and manifold gaskets as well as a crack in the upper radiator hose. So I replaced all the gaskets and hoses and cleaned it up some.
After a test drive, smoke still coming from under hood. It appeared to come from the exhaust crossover joints (mainly front) and possibly from the seam on the crossover "shroud". I suspected some rust damage to the crossover, so pulled it out. (And spent my Sunday digging out a broken bolt. )
I don't see any visible rust on the crossover (but can't inspect the entire thing visually). Could it be a clogged catalytic converter causing back pressure and the leak? Or is it more likely something under the hood like a head gasket. (I hope not. )
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I have had an exhaust leak under the hood of my 09' F150, XLT, 4.6 3V for some time now and decided to get it checked out. I took to the local stealer and as i suspected its the manifolds. There are 4 studs on the left and one stud on the right sheared off. Ford quoted $1400 for replacing both mainfolds and extracting the broken studs. This would give me the exact same manifolds that were on the truck from the factory and started leaking at 78,000 miles.
So I decided to take the truck to a local speed shop that I have used in the past for other things. The mechanic there said to just buy a high quality set of stainless headers, stage 8 locking fasteners, and copper gaskets. He will install. I went with JBA shortys from AutoAnything.com and the mentioned hardware from Jegs.
So basically for around $100 more I get headers that probably will last the life of the truck. I am quite displeased with the exhaust issues that Ford has had and known about for over 20 years. The service manager at Ford said they replace manifolds with broken studs on a regular basis. He also said it was a wise choice to go with the headers instead of the manifolds even though they will not install them. That says a lot about the confidence of the Ford service department in their parts and vehicle designs.
Its a little sad that a 6 year old truck with only 78,000 miles....
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I have a 98 Ranger 3.0 with a standard transmission. The truck has 240,500 miles so far. It runs just as good as the day I got it 11 years ago, doesn't use any oil and still gets 23 MPG. Last fall, it developed what sounds like an exhaust leak under the hood. It seems to be coming from the area of the EGR valve. The trouble is that I can't feel it or smell it. I have carefully felt the entire length of the tube running from the EGR to the exhaust manifold and cannot feel any leaks. There is no soot or any other evidence of an exhaust leak.
The noise isn't there for the first minute or so that the truck is running. I would think that if I had a cracked manifold or some other such leak, it would be worse when the engine is cold but this is not the case for me. It is most noticeable when pulling a hill as slow speeds in a higher gear. I have checked for codes (no CEL) and there are none. When I first heard it I figured that I would wait until it gets a little worse and I would be able to find it. Its been been over 8 months now it has remained the same.
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I just bought a chevy cavalier z24 2.4 liter engine. Yesterday my coolant light kept going on and off at different times so I added coolant to the overflow reservoir as shown in the car's manual. Today the coolant light is on constantly and it was smoking under the hood. I stopped and there was a big puddle of coolant was under the car. The car is not overheating. Did I put too much coolant in it or could it be a problem with the radiator?
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My '96 Honda Accord started smoking from under the hood as I pulled into my garage today. Upon closer inspection it seems like it was steam, not smoke, and it came from a crack in what I assume was some portion of my coolant line. The crack is in a solid, plastic tube that runs right along the fore-most part of the car, right along where the latch to unlock the hood. There is an escape valve that warns not to open it while the engine is hot because of the coolant that will be under pressure, hence the supposition that it is leaking heated coolant.
Obviously this needs to be fixed. So I have a few questions.What could have caused the crack?Is there a way to repair the crack without replacing the part?How serious if this / How far can I get away with driving?
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I have a well taken care of '95 Buick LeSabre w about 80,000. Bought it a couple years ago from a man who kept it in his garage. Most components on car are original.
Recently I was driving down a very steep driveway at about 3 MPH, and bottomed the car out and scraped the bottom. Not too bad, but enough to make me cringe. As I drove home at about 45 MPH, I noticed that every time the car would engage the gear, there would be a thump coming from under the hood. This was at about 1300 RPM. After looking under the hood and having a buddy rev the engine while in drive with the brakes pressed down, the engine doesn't seem to move too much. Furthermore, the engine mount and Trans mount seem to be okay, and not broken. Rubber is solid.
Is the thumping sound perhaps due to 'old' mounts or could this be something else like the torque strut mount,etc? Also, will it be evident when one of these are damaged, or is it something you replace after a certain while like shocks, etc?
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I bought a 01.5 Passat a few months ago and it had developed an exhaust leak. So when I went to check under the car I found it was missing the catalytic converter.
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Went to a road course for the first time on Sunday. After about 10 laps the car started smoking bad from the exhaust. The smoke was thick and white. There were professional drivers present (driving school) as well as a lexus service manager there looking at the car after the run. The smoke was thick but without that sweet smell of coolant. This was the hardest the car has ever been run but also maintained normal oil and coolant temperatures. After a bit of resting the smoke cleared up and never came back, my drive home was 2 hours long and car still seems ok. Engine sounds good, oil very clean, what could it have been? I have no cats so its going to be more obvious than normal.
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My bro just got a 1999 passat 1.8t and it seems to be smoking really badly from the exhaust. We checked the air intake for oil. But that seems fine. Where its going bad?
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2000 Excursion 4x4 v10 auto. Pulling the boat last weekend up the driveway from the lake and the truck started smoking under the hood at the top of the drive. Jump out and saw a fire under the pass floorboard. Go the hose and put it out in 30 sec. Thought i blew a trans line and it sprayed on the cat. Took it to the shop and he said lines are good it's not leaking. He said it is possible that the trans over heated and built up pressure and blew it out past the front seal.? What happened or how to prevent it from happening again?
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I changed my front catalytic converter yesterday. Everything was installed properly and the repair went smooth. Unfortunately when I started the car, I discovered the connection between the bottom of the cat and the connecting pipe was leaking out a ton of exhaust. The previous cat didn't leak like that. I put in a new gasket and tightened the bolts extra tight but the leak is still there. The worst part is that the leaking exhaust fumes are all traveling up into the hood, which makes it look like the engine is smoking. What should I do to stop the leak? I even tried using muffler tape but that only worked for an hour until it hardened and sounded like crap.
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I've got an '02 F150 with a 5.4L Triton. Despite being 10 yrs. old it's just passed the dealer warranty mileage about 80,000 miles. Due to a family situation it's been sitting idle for upwards of 2 or 3 weeks between startups.
When I do startup there's a puff of blue/geyish smoke, the engine idles rough for about 30 secs. and then everything smooths out and she runs normal.
I haven't noticed this issue before, I would add the temps here have been extremely cold the last few weeks. What direction do I point a mechanic in so he doesn't waste time or money on a diagnostic.
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I hear a bit of exhaust leak noise from engine compartment only at a cold startup, it goes away in seconds. I am 700miles from home. If it's a nonessential fix i will drive home before fixing, or, if an easy gasket replacement, I have two more days here, and tools,garage, and competent support to diy the job.
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I tore it apart and there was no gasket or donut ring in the flange. Is there supposed to be a gasket or donut ring? I can feel the leak with my hand. I have retightened & it still "tick-ticks" real bad.
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I just purchased a 2003 V10 with 270 000kms. The truck had had regular maintenance. It has an exhaust leak and runs a little bit rough. Could the exhaust leak cause the truck to run a little rough or am I dealing with another issue?
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I have a 97 Expedition with the 5.4 engine and 160k miles. Recently while having other work done I was told that I had an exhaust manifold leak due to broken rusted bolts.
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My truck just started running really loud when it's cold and the leak goes away when it warms up to operating temperature.I did a little bit of investigating and I have found where the leak is coming from at the end of the exhaust manifold where the donut gasket meets the catalytic converters. It appears that the bolts rotted that hold the system together at the gasket. What should I do to repair this? I don't really want to replace the whole manifold because I know I'll break a stud off in the engine because everything is pretty rusty down there. I even took some pictures of the problem....
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My wife's 97 f150 4x4 had an exhaust leak on the passenger side. 7 out of the 8 bolts holding the manifold on are snapped off. 4 of them are snapped off 1/8" below the top of the hole on the cylinder head . I am I unable to get a drill in to drill these out. The other 3 I've tried welding a nut on these but they won't budge and I wring the nuts off. If I have to pull the head(something I don't want to do)can I just pull that 1 head or do I have to tear the intake and everything off?
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Actually developed a crack and subsequent leak in a pipe running lengthwise, so assume the factory weld over the years went bad. Since it would be a weld overhead, wonder what method would be best? Would oxy acetylene work or mig? I don't have a tig so that not an option for me.
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The wife and I were driving back to Sacramento yesterday. It was pretty hot around 95 when we left Stonyford, CA after a day of trail riding with our dirt bikes. From the staging area to the freeway, the distance was about 40 miles of slow twisty roads. We average around 30-45 miles per hour with full AC running. Once we got to the freeway and drove about 20 miles, we pulled to a McDonalds at which point I noticed a weird smell and smoke coming from under the hood. We opened the hood and notices smoke coming from the middle of the engine. I also noticed coolant leaking from under the engine. I waited an hour and then pour about 3 gallons of concentrate coolant back into the system. It seems to stopped leaking. We drove another 45 miles to home. Coolant hasn't leaked. I can't take this truck out until I figure this out and fix it.
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1996 Buick LeSabre 3.8L... Under the pcv valve housing is a short plastic 90 deg. elbow, about 3/4inch wide. The elbow looks like it comes from the upper plenum and goes into a metal housing behind the belt tensioner. This elbow leaks from behind the belt tensioner side. My question: what is this elbow called? How do I fix it?
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