EXHAUST LEAK....?
 

I have a 2000 F250 SD Long box Crew with around 170,000 rounds on it. I have developed an exhaust leak and can't seem to find it. The up pipes look ok, other than the lower bolts are starting to rust a little thin. I cant see any soot on the bottom end and the tops look pretty clean. I started to remove the pipes and such up to the turbo to get a better look at things and have discovered that the top of the motor is fairly wet and dirty where the turbo pipes hit the heads and the vent on the drivers side valve cover.
When I am on the throttle or cruising at say 70mph, the exhaust leak is fairly loud, sounds like it is near the top of the motor. Upon start up with the hood open, there is some smoke that comes from behind the turbo somewhere, just cant pin point it. From searching this site, it looks like the up pipes are a common leak point....? Where should I go from here?
On another note that may or may not be related, when I removed the air filter, it was mangled, like it was sucking so hard through tube it was trying to ingest the filter. Yes it is stock, but it was a fairly new filter and not plugged yet....why is it sucking so hard....and my mileage is in the toilet...any suggestions would be appreciated!:-X19 I have pics, but don't no how to upload..........

tried to upload pics....fail.

start a photo bucket acct. and post pics out of there.
chris

I've seen the filter issue with freezing fog. It would ingest the very humid air and form an ice dam, only to melt later and show no real signs of what happened.

As for the exhaust leak, up pipes are highly suspect and not uncommon at this age. My leaks were so bad (including both manifolds warped), that I had to replace every single piece of hardware between the heads and the turbo. Don't count out the downpipe or the exhaust pipe, I have plenty of leftover soot from before my exhaust upgrades.

Oil on the driver VC: There are O-rings on the CCV doghouse above the VC, they swell and no longer seal. I bought new ones and installed them. Make sure no unfiltered air can reach the turbo.

My up pipe leaks were bad enough to soot up the firewall insulation. The pipes also had enough of a groove worn in them to replace. Then broken bolts and a broken easy out (ha) were enough to get a new collector. Consider the bellows!!!!!
I also found a drivers side manifold leaking, at the rear. I really had to look but could see soot around the bolts. All this with about 195k. If you think you can hear them, they are probably leaking.

http://s781.beta.photobucket.com/use...tml?sort=3&o=1

http://s781.beta.photobucket.com/use...tml?sort=3&o=2

http://s781.beta.photobucket.com/use...tml?sort=3&o=0


does this help any?

The insulation on the firewall looks pretty clean...and everything around the base of turbo is clean as well..should I tear the Babys butt off and look at that, I cant see the underside of it....could those boots be leaking and make the same noise and cause the mileage to be in the toilet?

The only issue with exploratory surgery is this stuff can really be tough to take apart with out bolts breaking. Lots of PB Blaster (rust penatrant) is necessary, and then stuff still breaks. With a good light and an inspection mirror you should be able to see all of the connections.

That is a lot of....idk what to call that.. sludge :P

My truck does get worked pretty hard, I don't spend a lot of time babying it. It is what it is....a work truck. I probably should have mentioned this before, but it does have a veg conversion....I know some of you will cringe at that, but it has been running on it for nearly 100,000 miles without a hiccup, belch or any other form of gasious vommit....

That is good to know, but shouldn't effect the build up inside the intake. If you haven't found it yet, there is a seperate forum section for veggie lovers.

I don't know if you have the same problem. I had an exhaust leak when i first drove my truck. it seemed to get louder the hotter the motor got. i found that the last bolt on the manifold on the driver side was gone. I put a new one in but it still leaked and got louder the more gas i gave it. I had to have the manifolds machined because they were warped bad.

I didn't figure that would have much to do with the intake side, the exhaust may be a little different, but we do still have the same pieces parts back there. And I converted my truck for all the wrong reasons....for the $$ savings in the hundreds of gallons of fuel I use....I am not really an environmentalist or a veggie guy so to speak....


On a side note and not to change the subject, but you must be into bicycles as well judging by the user name?

back to the serious question....I never thought the noise I hear could be an intake leak? will that sound any different? I guess I wouldn't know if maybe one of those rubber boots would be leaking? they seem to be pretty clean around the inside where the clamps were.

I will look at the manifold bolts....my exhaust temps seem to be about a hundred or more degrees hotter than they used to be...thanks for the heads up on that...I would have never thought to look at that.

INTAKE vs. EXHAUST leak.... does it make a difference on or off the throttle... lets say I am cruising at 70 and can hear it loud and clear, let off on the throttle and can still hear it but sounds like it is decreasing along with the speed?

If I were a betting man, I would put my money on exhaust leak.....would I win, lose or push?