If i have a bad gasket and have an exhaust leak, will it make me lose power?

 

UH yeah

 

not only that but if its before an o2 sensor and its bad enough the ECU will throw a code for bad o2 sensor

 

It depends on how bad the leak is. I really tiny leak may not be noticable, but a larger one def will.

 

If it's an EXHAUST gasket...not really. By the time the exhaust get's to the port, it has 2 choices, exit via the bad gasket or go down the exhaust manifold. The direct path to outside has less backpressure. So it's not going to hurt your power. If oxygen/outside air gets sucked INTO the intake manifold via that bad gasket..it can cause the o2 sensor to read lean...and it will add to much fuel..and you'll run crazy rich...in worst case, get unburned fuel in your exhaust system enough to ignite in the cat... So in bad cases, it can be really bad. usually the o2 sensor will trigger a Check engine light before your engine dumps enough fuel to cause your cat to burn, but it does happen on rare occasions.



If it's a HEAD gasket...yeah that will seriously affect your power. get it fixed asap or some really bad things can happen to your engine. Anti-freeze in the oil, oil in the anti-freeze, you'll blow anti-freeze out of the system into the overflow container until it fills up and starts dumping to the ground...you'll end up spooging oil out of the PCV into the intake system and run low on oil, not to mention contaminate your anti-freeze and oil with acids from the combustion process. it's bad...get it fixed asap.