Fuel-burning engines can be a messy process. Fuel from the vehicle’s gas tank is drawn into the engine, where it is mixed with air drawn in from outside the vehicle through the air filter. From there a spark from the vehicle’s electrical system, namely the distributor cap and wires, ignites the fuel-air mixture, producing a small explosion.
Finally, the remaining fuel-air mixture, both burned and unburned, exits through the exhaust port, and the cycle begins anew. This happens thousands of times a minute when a vehicle’s engine is running.
Exhaust travels out of the engine via the exhaust manifolds, also known as headers. The exhaust is then sent further down the exhaust system via a single tube known as the tailpipe.
As you can see from the diagram there is some parts along the way. Because of vehicle design and the conditions we drive in any of these parts along the way can be affected. A simple test drive can determine if a vehicle is loosing power because the exhaust doesn’t completely leave your vehicle. Exhaust can also overheat and affect performance of catalytic converters and or O2 sensors. Again this can be determined by a test drive or hooking your vehicle up to computer and getting error codes.