I was driving along the other day in my manual '05 MCS, and thought I noticed a louder pop come from under the hood. I say louder because the exhaust sometimes makes, I assume normal, little pops when I let off the gas, but it's usually from the muffler side of course. Well, after it made the louder pop under the hood, I noticed the exhaust was louder from the engine area and I could smell exhaust fumes. The Service Engine Soon light also came on. I'm assuming because of the exhaust sensors that regulate the fuel. So I unbolted the exhaust manifold to check the metal gasket and there doesn't seem to be any cracks or pieces missing out of it. One of the bolts was loose, but the rest were tight, so I'm not sure that was the problem. I didn't see any problems with the rest of the exhaust system. Any thoughts or suggestions as to what the problem could be would be greatly appreciated.

 

Carefully inspect the exhaust manifold, there could be a crack somewhere. Also If there is, it should be covered by a warranty up to 100,000 miles I believe.

 

Thanks Longboard110. I look at the exhaust a little closer for cracks, but I'm a little out of luck on the mileage...I'm at around 103K.

 

Retrieve the fault code and we'll go from there.

Jeremy