How bad does a exaust leak kill ur cars power? I have one around the manifolds and somewhere around the cat?? I was thinking it would throw a false reading to the o2, making it burn rich which it does so much i throw flames. I do have a lt4 knock sensor to keep my timing somewhat right. Plus i have exaust rattles. Any thoughts?

 

What does yours sound like? I think I got a slight one. Under load some times you can hear it very slightly, it sounds like a slight tap.

 

The O2 sensor on your car does not care anything about the fuel being used in your vehicle(runs rich). All it cares about is Oxygen ONLY and that is how it measures your fuel mixture, thus if you have an exhaust leak or a miss-fire you will run like crap because your mixture to the cylinders will be wrong. The longer and worse the leak(S) get or the longer a miss-fire occurs the fatter the mixture will get untill you inject so much gas that the plugs foul and the driveability of the car goes to crap. IE: you get a one cylinder missfire and keep driving, the O2 richens the mixture, the other plugs gas foul, O2 sees more oxygen and continues to richen the fuel mixture till all hell breaks loose and your on the side of the road or limping home. ANY unmetered air entering your engine, missfire, or exhaust leak can cause you trouble, do yourself a favor and fix the leak, you'll be glad you did..

 

Well mine is extremly bad u hear them over radio sometimes and backfires when cold, thenm what causes flames?

 

I had the same problem and it ended up being a HUGE exaust leak. It wasnt a hole. The Y pipe and collector had come UNBOLTED!! Which caused a rattle and popping noises when i let off at higher rpms. I found it when i pulled my car on ramps and looked for the leak. Felt like an idiot and when i fixed it my car felt like new. I was losing a considerable amount of horsepower.


Chris