I'll preface this by saying that my favorite fragrance is NOT exhaust, as my favorite purfume on a lady sitting in the passanger seat is not exhaust either.

Now, having said that, I have the dreaded exhast leak. I can smell it with the windows down only, but when the windows are up, nothing.

I looked in the engine compartment to see if any visible leaks were present--nothing I could see.

Im suspicious of my exhaust manifolds, though. They're pretty rusted and discolored, a slight tannish color. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Could the rusty manifolds be the cause?

 

Manifolds are about 1/2 an inch thick and weigh a good 20 or so pounds of iron each (not sure of the weight, but mine were pretty heavy). It would take a lot of rust to get through those. Of course the most likely places are any of the joints such as where the manifolds meet the block (Manifold gasket), manifold meets pipes, pipes meet splitter, etc. After that the culprits are small holes that may have rusted through in the exhaust pipes or muffler.

 

Could be the manifolds, but probably not. They are pretty thick, and a rusty tan is normal color. Do you hear an obvious "ticking" noise? that would speak to a manifold leaking. Look for signs of black soot. If you've got a mechanics mirror, look all around the flange gasket where the manifold meets the exhaust pipe. Another common place is where a muffler shop has welded the pipes while on the car. The top of the pipe is usually not very well done, as it is very dificult to weld when you can't see the puddle.

You should see signs of black soot where the exhaust leak is. Everything else should be a rusty brown color.

HTH,

 

The pipes have some surface rust on them, but the mufflers are brand new flowmasters.

I'll check for leaks in the pipes tomorrow.

The passenger exhast was loose, and a month or so ago my machanic fixed it while doing some other stuff. He said he had to take the manifold off and use an air chisel to get the gasket off. Im wondering if the same is wrong with the other side, just an old hardened gasket.

 

If the manifold gasket is leaking, you will hear a ticking sound like Scott said. Just take it to a muffler shop and get it up in the air so you/they can inspect it better. Unless you have welding skills, you will need to take it to them anyway.