Pesky exhaust leak

[bryancald]

Has anyone experienced an issue where the exhaust leaked somewhere near the manifold, but not necessarily at the manifold. I have replaced all of the gaskets related to the manifold/turbo/downpipe. The manifold mating surface checked out straight.

When I finished the job and started the car, it sounded exactly as it did prior to the work. Is it possible the flex pipe is leaking?

The car is an 03' XC70 with 120K on the odometer.

Thanks

[Astro14]

I have had a manifold leak...but not what you describe...from the lack of responses...I would guess that no one else has either.

You ask if it's possible for the flex pipe itself to leak? I would think so...do you have a stethoscope? Even a piece of fuel line, held up to your ear, can help you localize a noise...you need a precise location on the noise...might be worth a few $$ for an inexpensive mechanic's stethoscope...just be careful leaning over a running engine...

[bryancald]

I removed the turbo heat shield today in order to locate the source of the exhaust leak. It turns out, that it's the downpipe flange seam. The downpipe flange seam had cracked. I used 2000 degree metal epoxy to seal the seam from the inside. We'll see if it worked. Hope this helps somebody avoid the horrible exhaust manifold gasket replacement (my assumption).