Exhaust Leak 5.0 V8

[97Explorer5.0]

I have a 1997 Explorer 5.0 V8 with 55K miles. Around 30K miles I started hearing what sounded like an exhaust leak which occurred during the first few minutes of driving, especially in cold weather. The sound would disappear after approximately 10 minutes of driving. The dealer said the sound is normal in V8 engines. Now the sound has worsened and does not ever go away although much quieter after 30 minutes of driving. The "clicking" is the first topic of conversation when a person drives with me. Has anyone experienced this problem? Any suggestions?

 

[fordkrazy]

sounds like the header gasket is leaking. crawl arround the engine top and bottom and see if you can see any black on the headers or heads to see if that is the case. you could probably do the gasket replacement yourself might be a real pain though. i dont know how much room you v8ers have but i know it would be a contortionist act for a v6 depending on which side it is. ford likes to pile all the equipment on one side usually. if its not the header gasket for sure just look at the rest of the exhaust for black streaks. what makes me think that its the header gasket is that you can hear it and it used to go away from what i would say is the metal expanding and sealing it back from the enging warming up. now the heat from exhaust coming out while it was cold and leaky has burned the hole too big for the expansion to seal. well good luck man.

 

[DarkFox1]

I had that back when I had about 30k too, I had a cracked exhaust manifold.

 

[fordkrazy]

yea it could be that too. lets hope not.

 

[DarkFox1]

mine was covered under warranty, do you still have one? I think I have the Xtended warranty or something.. it covers me for a few more miles at least

 

[97Explorer5.0]

I found the problem. It was an exaust leak on the flexible metal tube connected to the EGR valve. Thanks for all the help. The part cost me around $40 and saved me a service visit.

 

[MikeTEC]

97Explorer5.0: How did you check the tube and how did you get it off? On my 96 5.0 I can't even see it. Thanks Mike