exhaust leak?

How do you know if you have an exhaust leak? What are some symptoms of it?

your car sounds realy loud.... you have to rev high to drive.......
if its at the back like your mufler its proly lot less

Small ones simply sound like your engine is a bit louder. Large ones sound like you are driving without a muffler.

On a couple of cars I used to own, I could tell there was an exhaust leak when I noticed visible exhaust gases coming from underneath the car instead of the tailpipe, or traces of black around the exhaust manifold. On one car I owned that had headers on it, the exhaust gasket was white, so the "carbon tracks" as I called it really showed up.

If the leak is up front near the engine, it might sound like a click click, or snap snap. Those types of leaks are usually right where the exhaust manifold meets the engine.

Well, the noise is coming from the back. It sounds loud inside, not annoying, kind of cool, but I still don't know whats wrong. I don't notice any smoke coming from underneath and the tailpipe is shooting out as much smoke as it always does, and it doesn't shoot out much anyways. IS this bad? How bad is this gonna screw my car up?

Well, the noise is coming from the back. It sounds loud inside, not annoying, kind of cool, but I still don't know whats wrong. I don't notice any smoke coming from underneath and the tailpipe is shooting out as much smoke as it always does, and it doesn't shoot out much anyways. IS this bad? How bad is this gonna screw my car up?
Upon cold start-up, put your hand over the tail pipe(s). If you feel little or no pressure from the exhaust gases pushing against your hand,and you hear a hissing noise from elsewhere in the system, you have a leak.

Sometimes the muffler's internal baffles can rust out,(but not the outside) making your car noisier but not actually leak gases out. This is not dangerous. My '88 Bonneville had this condition for the last 5 years.

Smell and Sound is the 2 best way to know