An exhaust system is designed to keep your car quiet. It is alsoresponsible for safely transporting the toxic fumes from the engine out therear of the vehicle.
Yet sometimes, it can develop leaks. Is it safe to drive the vehicle thisway? How long can you drive with an exhaust leak?
How long you drive with an exhaust leak depends upon where the leak hasdeveloped. For example, if your engine manifold is leaking, driving canintroduce exhaust fumes into the car's cabin, so you should not driveit at all. But if you have a leaky muffler, you can drive as long asyou like, but it will be a noisy ride, and you risk being pulled overby the police.
An exhaust system typically consists of three parts — the exhaust manifold,the downpipe, and the main silencer or muffler, all of which can developleaks.
Let's look at an exhaust system leak's seriousness and what happens if youdon't have it repaired.
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How Serious Is An Exhaust Leak?
An exhaust leak can let poisonous gases, like carbon monoxide, into thepassenger cabin, reduce fuel efficiency, foul oxygen sensors, and causecatalytic converter failure and internal engine damage. Besides, italso makes your car noisy.
An exhaust leak makes your car loud regardless of which part of the exhaustsystem it has developed.
Besides being embarrassing, the situation can be hazardous.
The exhaust plumbing carries fumes and combustion byproducts away from theengine.
If a leak develops, it can allow harmful substances into the vehicle's cab.
Introduce Toxic Fumes Into The Cabin
The passenger cabin of a car is not hermetically sealed. Instead, it relieson the exhaust system to safely expel the exhaust gases from the car'srear.
If the exhaust manifold leaks, these harmful gases find their way into thevehicle's cabin instead of making their way outside.
The silent killer carbon monoxide is also a combustion byproduct. You won'teven know it leaks into your cabin until the worst happens.
Decrease Fuel Efficiency
Exhaust leaks can throw off the air-fuel ratio balance. This dupes theoxygen sensors to think that the combustion mixture is lean, drawing morefuel into the combustion chamber to compensate.
This significantly lowers your car's fuel efficiency, leading you to refuelmore often than usual.
Cause Catalytic Converter Failure
You have already read about the extra fuel being drawn into the combustionchamber. But since the actual amount of air present is not enough to burnall the fuel, the unburnt fuel is pushed towards the exhaust stream.
This fuel is not as insignificant as you think.
It travels to the catalytic converter, which operates at extremely hightemperatures. Upon entering this part, the fuel combusts, damaging itsinterior substrate and clogging it, so it does not function correctly.
Destroy The Oxygen Sensors
The unburnt fuel is also responsible for destroying the oxygen sensors ofyour engine. It can coat the tips of these sensors, preventing them fromtaking a correct reading.
Besides lowering your fuel efficiency, a poorly performing oxygen sensorcan sap power from your engine and make your car idle poorly.
If you ignore the issue for too long, you might need to replace your oxygen sensors, which may be indicated to you by a check engine light.
Sabotage Internal Engine
This is the most serious impact of an exhaust leak. If your car developsone in the wrong place, say by the exhaust manifold, it can lead to apainfully expensive engine repair.
A leak close to the exhaust manifold prevents it from taking away theextreme heat from combustion.
When it stays there, this heat can damage the engine valves that let theexhaust fumes out of the engine.
Repairing such damage costs thousands of dollars, which you won't be keen onspending. That's why you should not ignore a much cheaper exhaust leak and get it fixed as soon as possible.
What Are Signs Of An Exhaust Leak?
Unusual engine sounds, vibrating gas pedal, loud noises whileaccelerating, bad fuel efficiency, and strange smells are common signsof an exhaust leak.
Let's go over each sign of an exhaust leak in more detail.
Unusual Engine Sounds
When you ignite the engine, and it emits a noise that keeps getting louder,it is an unmistakable sign of a leak in the exhaust manifold gasket.
The gasket sits between the engine block and the piping from the exhaustmanifold. Along with piping, the gasket gets heated and cooled, which cancause corrosion and leaks.
Vibrating Gas Pedal
Vibration is another sign of a leaky exhaust. You can tell your exhaust hasdeveloped a leak when your gas pedal vibrates every time you step on it.
If the leak is small, the vibrations will be low, but as it increases insize, so will the vibrations, extending to the steering column andfloorboards to the point where the whole cabin appears to be vibrating.
Loud Noises While Accelerating
A roaring sound is completely natural whenever you accelerate. But yourexhaust might be leaking if you hear sounds that seem like whistling or airleaking. However, you should not rely on this symptom alone. Use it onlywhen you have already witnessed another symptom.
Strange Smells
Carbon monoxide may be odorless, but it is not the only fume that theexhaust system expels.
If your exhaust system leaks, you might notice a strange burning smellinside the cabin.
This can happen when the exhaust manifold becomes damaged. Since it isresponsible for gathering and sending the combustion byproducts away, if itstarts leaking, the exhaust fumes and gases will find their way back to theengine or cabin, making it smell.
Conclusion
Driving with a leaky exhaust can harm your and your car's health. Even if you notice just one symptom of an exhaust leak, you should take it as a warning, get your vehicle to a mechanic, and have your exhaust system fixed inexpensively; otherwise, you could damage the engine, which is very expensive to repair or replace.
