[Help] Could this be the reason why?

Hey guys,

I'm having some trouble with my car lately. I noticed that now I need to fill up my tanks more than usual and my MPG is going down pretty quick! Also, I noticed a weird noise coming from under the car from time to time kinda like a small rock on the tire thread but it wasn't a rock... I took a look under the car and I found out some leaks on the clamps. I tried to unbolt the clamps on my exhaust and bolt them back again but I still see the leaks. If I pass my fingers on top of the leaks I can feel the exhaust fumes. (I can smell the fumes pretty badly on hard acceleration inside the cabin as well). Do you guys think it could be those leaks causing my gas economy to go down quickly? I used to do 4-5 days on 1 full tank of gas and now it's more 4 days if not 3-4... Here's a quick video of the leak:

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I doubt that would have any effect on anything other than noise.

^ Agreed, that really couldn't affect fuel economy at all.

Any idea what could it be if it's not an exhaust leak? I cleaned my TB (which wasn't that dirty either). I unplugged my battery for a few minutes trying to reset the ECU A/F but didn't work out :(

PS: I heard that exhaust leak after the cat would affect my fuel economy because of the unburnt gas going through the honeycomb. Could this be the case...?

An exhaust leak after the cat has no effect on the cat as the gasses have already gone through it. You need to check your true mpgs by calculating it yourself.

I used to fill up my tank on Saturday nights. Now I have to fill it up on Friday morning...

I see you're in TX so I don't know if you guys also get the winter gas blend. In the north east and even here in VA we get the winter blend which gets worse MPGs than the regular gas blend.

They put additives to keep it from freezing. Maybe that's why you noticed the drop?

usgiorgi said:

I see you're in TX so I don't know if you guys also get the winter gas blend. In the north east and even here in VA we get the winter blend which gets worse MPGs than the regular gas blend.

They put additives to keep it from freezing. Maybe that's why you noticed the drop?

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Not sure, We do have winter here but it's really quick. We had that one time where almost all Texas was closed because of freezing temperature :doh:. So far right now it's not that cold anymore. Today we're around 78-80F

Maybe you're driving harder than usual lol

How many miles on the car? maybe time for new plugs

ahl395 said:

Maybe you're driving harder than usual lol

How many miles on the car? maybe time for new plugs

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My wife drove it too and she's not a fan of speed... She told me damn didn't we put gas like 3 days ago lol!? My car is about to be 75K miles. On the highway with the cruise control set at 70Mph I can barely get 24 MPG...

Any drip from my exhaust comes out the tail pipe and is clear water condensation. That’s not right. Could it be unburned fuel? It looks brownish.

i have leaks on my h pipe clamps and dosnt effect fuel economy.
that looks like water? condensation maybe just getting through? try tightening the bolts?

Winter blend in Tx kills MPG.

RIBS said:

Any drip from my exhaust comes out the tail pipe and is clear water condensation. That’s not right. Could it be unburned fuel? It looks brownish.

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It probably looks brownish due to the pipe. To me it looked like white/clear. When I passed my finger on it and smelled it I couldn't smell that it was gas. Didn't really smell like anything...

codemanstang said:

i have leaks on my h pipe clamps and dosnt effect fuel economy.
that looks like water? condensation maybe just getting through? try tightening the bolts?

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It does look like water. I tried to smell it and didn't smell like gas or anything. I tightened those bolt as much and as far as it could go. I even put watter to make it tighter under the bolts. I just ordered new after market clamps. That should fix the leak issue (Hopefully) *Knock on wood*

MasterCylinder said:

Winter blend in Tx kills MPG.

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I'm pretty sure we're out of winter blend right now lol. Plus, It's actually the first time happening to me. Last year I didn't notice any differences... Can a winter blend make you loose power? I feel my car is not as powerful as it used to be from time to time. (Not at all time). If I floor it for a very long time It can smell pretty bad too. :frusty:

StangATX said:

I'm pretty sure we're out of winter blend right now lol. Plus, It's actually the first time happening to me. Last year I didn't notice any differences... Can a winter blend make you loose power? I feel my car is not as powerful as it used to be from time to time. (Not at all time). If I floor it for a very long time It can smell pretty bad too. :frusty:

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Well they tend to increase the amount of ethanol in winter then you got left over so yeah. When they first started putting E5-E10 in my WRX noticeably dropped in MPG and a little of power. But my car has been in the shop all January so I have no clue if its that noticeable.