Exhaust issues (maybe?)

[Ohhnulix]

Recently my 4.0 has had some power issues around midrange, as well as a burbling noise around 2500 rpm but only when there’s a load on the engine (driving). It’s always been very loud considering the stock exhaust but I never thought anything of it. At first I thought maybe it was a clogged catalytic converter even though there was no codes, so I decided to just sit in my yard and hit the gas to around 2750 rpms and let it go for a few minutes to heat everything up, to my surprise it quieted down and seemed to run a bit better. But when I let the truck cool down it went right back to the way it was. So now I’m thinking exhaust leak, nothing looks bad though,

 

[RonD]

If you have a vacuum gauge you can test for clogged exhaust

Or just pull out the two upstream O2 sensors and go for a drive, it WILL BE LOUD
If throttle response and top speed is back you do have partially restricted exhaust

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Maybe the engine is a little carboned up too? Seafoam can help with that. Running higher revs just sitting shouldn’t have really done much unless it’s carboned up somewhere. A major exhaust restriction is somewhat noticeable, I had a bit of the cat break free and jam up in the exhaust pipe. Ran it as hard as I could one night and then looked under, cat had a little glow to it and the rest of the exhaust was cold. Cut the pipe behind the cat and found the problem