Exhaust leaking in front ?

[David C]

Hi, I'm hearing a high pitch squealing that ressemble that of a squeaky belt, but definitively comes from the engine itself. It's like some sort of constant whistling and I'm not too sure what to do about it, I suspect it's also causing my car to loose power or perhaps to raise my fuel consumption, as I'm not getting as good of a gas mileage as I used to in the same conditions. The sound kicks in mostly when there's a higher load on the alternator at idle, but also will stop when I let go of the throttle during deceleration and come right back when press the gas pedal. Could it be a leaky exhaust gasket near the exhaust manifold ? Alternator pulley bearing ? Wondering if I can tackle this or if it's a repair shop level job. 2007 3dr HB auto.

Thanks

[xdarkxfirex]

If you suspect its an exhaust issue try to locate a leak. I know on my yaris I had a problem were it would squeak like you were saying, and it turned out someone put the wrong exhaust donut gasket on the front. That could be the culprit. Try moving the exhaust flange behind the manifold and see if you get any noise first

[David C]

I had the front spring bolts and donut changed last week, did help a bit, but I still have some squeak, so the rear spring bolts, donuts and muffler are next