Is this an exhaust leak?

Kennedy1220

Kennedy1220

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2019
Messages
36
Location
Long Island, New York
Hey all, I just purchased my first jeep and I'm a new member to this awesome community. I got a 2003 TJ (4 straight 6) sport and love everything about it. I know a lot of posts have been made in regards to exhaust leaks, but I am new to the idea of working on cars on my own and just wanna make sure I am diagnosing the problem correctly.
Basically I think my jeep has an exhaust leak cause there is a slight fluttering/ ticking when I am accelerating, and I am getting ~9 mpg which I think is low for even wranglers? I 32" tires on 3.73 gearing.


This is just a video I took cause I was hearing a whooshing sound coming from around the exhaust manifold and think that could confirm the exhaust leak?


Another video from inside the jeep a lot of the noise is just stuff on the dash vibrating, but you may be able to hear the slight fluttering when lightly rev it.

Anyways I believe its an exhaust leak and just looking for any input on the matter.

I appreciate any comments. Thanks!
 
That first video sounds more like a vacuum leak than an exhaust leak. Exhaust leaks, in my experience, tend to sound more like tapping or loud clicking. Do all of your vacuum based parts work fine? E.g., any issues with the brake booster, air vent selector, cruise control? Any rough or high idle? What RPM do you idle at in neutral or park?

Second video could be a lot of things. Could be a random rattle related to the exhaust system, like a catalytic converter going bad, or even just a loose heat shield. A mechanic's stethoscope might help you pin down the source if you can recreate the issue with the hood open
 
Only issue I can think of with the air vent selector is that the first and second settings basically don't blow out any air and then 3 and 4 blow air pretty hard, there really isn't an in between. I though that was just a typical thing for an older vehicle but that could be the issue? Otherwise the jeep idles pretty normally at around 500-600 rpm.
Weird thing about the flutter is I can only hear it when I am in the car. I may just wind up bringing it in and having a shop diagnose it because I can't seem to pin point where its coming from and there seems to be a lot of possibilities. Thanks for the responses, I'll keep it updated if I figure anything out.
 
If the lower settings on the blower don't work, your blower motor resistor is likely burned out. Fortunately it's a very inexpensive part that is easy to replace. Go ahead and do that when you get a free 15 minutes. But that is unrelated to anything else here.

By the vent selector I meant the function that changes the defroster to face vents to floor vents. If that's working fine, you should still have some vacuum.
 
Oh alright, there has been occasions where it does not switch from one setting to the other so I guess it could be vacuum related in that case. It doesn't happen all that often but it has happened before. I'll take a look at vacuum lines and see if I can figure that out, I haven't really considered them as much. I'll definitely be replacing the blower motor resistor too, that's good know.

All this is new to me so I appreciate pointing me in the right direction, its a big help.
 
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