Possible Exhaust Leak?

[nametakennow]

A few things that lend me to this conclusion:- Whistle on shifts (particularly pulling out in traffic, yaknow, needing the extra oomph) whenever I'm letting out clutch and am going back on the gas.- Very warm shifter (below the shift knob), basically same temp as engine bay.- Occasional smell of exhaust (very occasional, nothing I worry about, but might have something to do with it) particularly coming from a stop.

The only thing I can reason is that somewhere in the exhaust stream there's a friggin tiny leak. I've checked my intake hoses and connections (Injen CAI) and they're all sound, so I don't think the whistle is coming from there. It's not a loud whistle, but I could convince the un-car-suave that I have a BOV (and thus a turbo ). I noticed the whistle probably 3 weeks to a month ago, the heat within the past two weeks, but the heat may have been there before since you don't typically feel your shifter below the knob.

What else could it be? What is it most likely? My brother said it may be the AC working overtime, but I don't use my AC, so he reasoned one of the engine fans, since it's getting hot here in the dirty south now.

[NISTECH]

the whistle might be your idler pulley going out. your shifter will not let heat in due to its design. the 00 and up sentra manual shifter is all done by cables thus no whole in the floor below the shifter itself.

[nametakennow]

Umm... hate to question the master, but are you sure? During my short shifter install I remember a 2in-ish diameter black bar running from below the interior (which there was a hole to) up to the transmission... the shifter sits and rotates on a joint that is connected to that bar... My brother also reasoned that there might be a crack or something in the heat shield, as we had to "modify" it with a hammer so that the shifter wouldn't clang against it...

edit: And what's an idler pulley? This term is unfamiliar to me...

edit again: Yeah, well... I'll say my car if it's any help. 2001 Sentra SE 2.0 (SR20DE), performance package, 5speed, 42,500mi, B&M short shifter (since January, so about 2500 miles) and Injen cold air intake (November, about 3000-3500 miles).

[NISTECH]

well now you have me questioning myself. I am not always right you know. I try to visualize these cars in my head when I address a problem with them here on nico. I never post to the site from work as I dont have time. Today I will take a look at an 01 and see if i am wrong or not. I do know for a fact the 02 B15 is cable controlled cause I have had to fix the control box in the car on one recently. I thought all B15 had the control box in them. I will post back what I find today on the shifter.

The idler pulley for main drive belt tends to go south on these pretty quick. its the pulley the belt rides on that is also the adjustment for the belt that runs the alt and A/C compressor.

[nametakennow]

So, idler pulley go "bye-bye" means the car doesn't go very far? I'm guessing the alternator-powered items and A/C go down if it does, but that main drive belt I would assume would be mildly more serious?If I had a picture from my SS install I'd post it up, but it seems those disappeared somewhere along the line. I'll see if I can snap one showing the hole in my floor today (in case you don't happen to have an '01 around).

I felt the shifter some more today, pulled the shift knob off to get a better feel, it's definitely warmer than it used to be. The farther down I touch the warmer it gets, but I have yet to get up under the boot to see how warm it is below that. Warm meaning engine bay warm, btw, near the bottom.

I've recently changed my driving style slightly, anytime I stop I throw it to neutral and leave it until just the point when I start to go (say the light turns green), as I've heard that's better for the syncros than leaving it in first with the clutch out, would that cause more heat? I dunno, I'm trying anything I can think of. I changed my style probably a month before I started noticing the whistle and the heat.

Oh, and how much would a new idler pulley set me back?

[NISTECH]

I looked at an 04 today with the 1.8l It appears that only the 2.5l has the cable shift. Since you installed a shifter check out your boot see if it came loose and is letting air in through the floor. also make sure niether of the 2 rods are laying against the heat sheild or the exhuast itself as well as make sure the heat sheilds are there and in their proper locations.

the Idler pulley is reletively cheap rough guess ,under 30 bucks.

[nametakennow]

Alrighty, here's the update:

Met up with 240kid at my local shop today and went over the car. I couldn't seem to recreate it just sitting there, and the shop mech couldn't do it while driving (shoulda told him to switch, I can make it happen anytime except while sitting around, it seems). Anyway, the shop mech says it's probably the Injen CAI making the whistle, apparently Civics are more notorious for whistling intakes, but it's common on a lot of cars. So, Michael and I took off the filter (car off, of course) and went over it, looks to be in pretty good condition, I'll probably clean in in the next little while just for good measure. The mech said it's pretty much a sign of a well-working intake, and said the filter looked great too, so no worries on the whistle.

Next, the heat on the shifter. I took off the interior panel and got up under the dust boot to the... well.. dunno the name, I'll call it boot #3. Boot #3 was a little off to the side, so it appears air was indeed leaking up through that boot and causing the heat. I adjusted the boot carefully, I don't think there'll be any more leaks, and the heat did seem to go down a bit (hot day though, I'll feel it next time I'm out at night).

Thus, I'm pretty sure the car is just fine, and my paranoia sense is satisfied, so it's all good. It was great to meet up with a fellow NICOnaut though, so it wasn't a wasted day . Thanks 204kid.