Exhaust leak in engine compartment area?

The first thing to look for is around the exhaust manifold area.This is where many exaust leaks start for different reasons.The area of the the leak is going to be usually a black color because of the of carbon residue left from the burning of fuel.This will be the tell tale sign of the leak.the exhaust manifold usually leads to a down tube that either goes into a pipe that that goes back to a catylitac converter or to a flex pipe(it usually looks like a braided steel hose.These pieces are bad for rusting out.That's the problem im having now.front wheel drives are different than rear wheel drives,because of that flex pipe,fwd have that and rwd don't.Rwd use a donought from the exhaust manifold to the pipe,where as fwds use that flex hose.Now in a rwd car that donought can and will be damged or rust out,just like the areas where the flex tube is on a fwd do.these areas are usually bolted together with a clamp of some sorts so those are the the areas you should look first.