My 1998 S80 T6 has an exhaust leak. It has been there for a little while now, but lately it's been getting worse and really beginning to get on my nerves. First I'll describe when this occurred. My fiance parents live about 4.5 hours drive away so as a result the car has a very long road to travel (mind I have done this a few times now and it doesn't seem that far to us anymore). Anyway one day earlier this year I was on my way back home and is normal was overtaking slower cars / trucks / trailers on the road. As is customary to ensure that you get around the car and in the right lane to be driving, I pushed the accelerator to the wall and away she goes. However during one of these overtaking manoeuvres I noticed a change in the note of the car. It was a slight change and I suspected something had loosened and not right. It was not that noticeable however. Now quite a number of months later it is getting worse, and the drone is horrendous from the inside of the cabin.

I had the car serviced last week and the mechanic has suggested that there is a leak around the manifold somewhere, but would require further investigation. Now the questions:

[ol][*]Has anyone experienced this issue before and where might the leak be? I suspect due to the amount of heat when accelerating hard to overtake quite a few times, it has greated a gap somewhere.[*]Would this have any issues with the ETM? I had the throttle body cleaned and the car's idle is better but still hunting slightly. I am worried that the exhaust leak is causing this to occur still. Would I be correct in assuming this?[/ol]Thanks for any help.

 

I would do a full inspection on the exhaust and see if you can find the leak.

 

If the leak is before the O2 sensors, it can cause other drivability issues. It can also kill your converters. You want to find and fix as soon as possible.

 

Can you describe the noise more? Is it a repetitive popping noise, a whooshing noise, etc? Does it get louder or does the pitch increase with speed? Do you hear it sitting at idle if you look around the car? Where does it seem to be coming from?

 

The best way I could describe it is as a drone. The mechanic suspects it's around the manifold somewhere but hasn't really had thatclose a look at it. When at the lights, can't hear anything (although if the car is being a nuisance it will be jump between 700-800 RPMs - classic symptom of ETM) and you can hear it, like a her her her. When taking off you can hear the exhaust note (think 6 cylinder ford) and then when going up hill and increasing the revs it drones at a certain point while under load. Once it is set to cruising on a relatively flat surface it's quiet again, accelerate and you can hear the exhaust note. So most of the drone is going up a hill.