My car is making me sick

[Five9dak]

So it's either the original shocks making me seasick or an inaudible exhaust leak giving me CO poisoning, but I am nauseous and have a headache after driving my '86 NYer more than a few miles. I am putting a CO alarm in the car tommorow just in case. CO makes more sense as the symptoms persist for ~3 hours after driving. Two front windows open, rears closed, HVAC off, around town driving.

I suppose it might also be ethylene gycol poisoning, but I've only had that before in higher concentrations than say a heatercore leak would put out. A face full of coolant mist has made me sick for a few hours though. I don't have a metallic taste in my mouth which is characteristic of that poisoning.

I'm used to NA and blown v8 stuff so my exhaust leaks were always audible ticks in the past. (they also never made me sick either...) I guess the pipe could be rotted enough to be porous, but it doesnt LOOK that bad.

So I have a few questions:
Will a 3" downpipe fit my 2.25" SW? (I found one for sale used)
How likely is a leak upstream of the DP? I figured that would be loud with all the backpressure. I'm not also particularly enthused about the possibility of needing to remove the head on a motor that only has 35k miles for a stupid exhaust leak.

Also what are reasonable quality cheap shocks for the front? The rears are air shocks and still hold air so I think they are ok.

[RoadWarrior222]

Where does your exhaust exit? It can get sucked back in any (rust?) holes or vents in the trunk area at highway speeds.

[Five9dak]

It's rear exit. There is one pinhole in the spare tire well and that's about it, and the carpet is over it. The two cases it made me sick were both around town drives if it matters.

I've been avoiding driving with just the front windows open, and I've been fine so far, and the CO alarm hasnt gone off. No I always open the rear windows to get good circulation or drive with them up.

[Vigo]

Isnt it possible there's something else causing it like some kind of mold in the carpet padding or something? Just throwing out an idea that's probably not helpful...

[rx2mazda]

This has to be one of the funniest thread post ever....sorry if it wasn't meant to be. I lol'd

[89FerrariShelby]

This has to be one of the funniest thread post ever....sorry if it wasn't meant to be. I lol'd

lol, i'm with you...i got a giggle and came in to add a "Welcome to owning a T-M"

Guess its not what i expected....

[1BADVAN]

i was having a similar problem but i could actually smell exhaust, i dropped the downpipe down to inspect the exhaust and found some pinhole leaks that was causing the problem. Welded it up and it is all gone!

[Five9dak]

Well the pretty much has every problem that could make one woozy while driving. Ancient exhaust, holes in the truck, moldy interior, musty vents, maybe a leaky heatercore, and very very worn out shocks.

I guess I need to start picking them off one by one. The forward most parts of the exhaust are my first culprits I think.

[RoadWarrior222]

IF I'm not ready to ditch the exhaust yet, I just slather a bit of coke can with muffler cement and clamp it down with worm clamps... had one of those last 3 years...

[turbovanman²]

3 inch dp won't fit a 2 1/4 sv. I would grab a stethoscope and jack up the car, then check for leaks.

[DaytonaTurboZ]

This is too much lol...

[looneytuner]

What????????

Nobody mentioned rolling meth lab or is that just in Missouri?

[Five9dak]

It's getting meth injection soon, just have to find a place to mount the pump- no labs though.

[jamesmonty]

Do you have a satellite radio? Believe it or not one of my sales reps was having the same issues with his 2010 ford. He had it a multiple places before someone found that when he had the satellite radio installed they did it wrong. As soon as it was sick he said his headaches went away. And it was not just him getting sick either, anyone who rode in the car told him the same thing.

[Five9dak]

Nope I don't have satellite radio.

[tsiconquest88]

If the car is making u sick and is a heap of crap as your seemingly make it sound why put meth injection haha?

[Five9dak]

First of all, I can't leave anything alone and I had a snow progressive kit laying around. Im doing progressive pump control with MSIIe on my truck, and the small snow pump isnt big enough for my next combo. So that pump and controller are going on the car.

Its not really a heap of crap, it was my great aunts car and only has 34k on it. It sat for a few years and all the rubber and exhaust components didn't fair too well. The car was started every few weeks so the compression and power are excellent. Im just breathing some new life into it so it can get another 100k or more. First round of work was mostly cleaning and obvious maintence, it's developed some more leaks after being driven for about a week that I'm addressing now. I'll do some of the common tweaks on the transmission and push it to 14psi with meth.

I'm hesistant to repair the exhaust when I'm limited by the 2.25" SW and I eventually want to swap to blow through, decent exhaust, 87 LM with 3bar tune, I've some +40%s for it. It'd be nice to get it into the 14s so it's not such a bore to drive everyday.

I'm like 90% positive it's the exhaust leaking because if I drive with all the windows down (or up) it is fine. Only when I have the fronts down and the rears up do I get woozy. The CO alarm never went off, so I took it out of the car.

I'll see what my friends and I have kicking around the garage and maybe cobble up a 2.5" system for it soon.

[tsiconquest88]

I wasnt picking at you, just wondering lol. You made it seem like a beater and no mods and such so i was like why stick meth injection especially if you have a cruddy exhaust and nothing done that needs the use of meth.

[Five9dak]

Yeh it's a beater and the truck is the baby, but I still wan't it to get out of it's own way.

It doesnt have any mods right now, just a revamped vacuum system with all new hard lines, push to connect fittings, and a g-valve set to 10psi. It runs damn good at 10psi so that's promising.

Just trying to address the areas that count, the tranny will be done to hold the power while it still has low miles and I need some charge cooling. Hesistant to spend any money on an exhaust that wouldnt bolt to a better swingvalve down the road.

[csomni]

if it was mine id go ahead and put the 2.5 ex in and then all you need to do is the down pipe when your ready.