possible exhaust leak - what should I do?

[CerealKiller]

I think my exhaust may have a leak somewhere. I have a feeling the turbo gasket may also be up the creek. I drive with the windows down a lot and I tend to notice a strong exhaust smell occassionally (both in traffic and when I'm totally alone). I have thought of replacing my exhaust with a stock unit as I'm sick to death of my droney cat back.

Question is what do you guys recommend I do? I don't really want to buy a new cat back but I will if I have to. I don't mind going back to a stock cat back but is it really that quiet and will I lose a lot of power?

Cheers.

[Tosh]

get it up on a hoist and check the exhaust for the source of the leak, look at all the flanges and see if any bolts may have come loose causing the 2 pipes to come apart a little and hence leak.

if it's leaking at one of the flanges then reaplce the gasket and put it back together.

otherwise if it's something else like a hole in the system or a crack somewhere then you'll need to replace it.

if you want to replace the turbo gasket that'll involve a little more work and yeh you'll have to get a new gasket from Nissan... I'd also reccomend getting new studs and nuts if your going to pull the turbo off and put it back on.

[Blitz]

Cheapest method of fixing the leak is using HKS's new exhaust sicflex bonding agent.

BD4's sells it