I swear my engine sounds louder - like a puttering exhaust hole - near the driver' side of the engine.

I just serviced the heads and didn't see any holes in the muffler manifolds on each side.

Does anyone know an easy way to find a leak, since this engine is so tight?

I think it's the crossover or the pipe that leads to the rear of the truck, but near the beginning at the front of the engine.

Also - will I encounter a power loss with a hole near the engine side?

Best...

Ben

 

I'm sure you've gone over this, but remember to visually check that you have all the nuts on the connections. Those nuts probably shouldn't be re-used, and I had one wiggle off after about 200 miles. Produced the sound you describe, and went away with the a new nut.

 

Huh...so it could just be a bad nut? I'll look into it. I wouldn't be surprised if I forgot to throw one on when I put the exhaust back together.

I'll give it a look!

Ben

 

Yep, the exact same thing happened to my 92 3.0 4runner this week. It's been getting louder for several months and I delayed the repair due to the fact that I expected the problem to be blown gasket at the head to ex. manifold. How happy was I when I saw that the left down-pipe only had one nut remaining and it was half-way off. As scope103 said it look before you leap, check those bolts. Thankfully they are easy to get to and I even had several in the bolt bin from some earlier engine swaps, etc. Good Luck !

 

The same thing happened to my 92 22re pick up not to long ago. i was on my way to work and all of a sudden it sounded as if my truck had a massive hole in the header. I got to work and let it cool off and removed the heat shield over the header and my co worker was watching as i started it up and revved the engine. Turns out i lost a whole nut and stud in the header causing the noise. Check that for sure guarantee thats your problem. Its a cheap fix as well.

 

Do the seafoam treatment. If there is a hole, youll find it. Seafoam smokes like a mother.

 

Everybody talks about Seafoam - can someone enlighten me on what/how to use the the stuff with my 3VZE?

FIXED:

Yup, you guys were correct - one missing bolt and one loose bolt on the part that connects the driver's side manifold to the long-pipe to the rear. Sounds much better now!

Thanks ya'll!

Ben