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Exhaust manifold gasket leaking. Doh...
by
anarchyx34
on 02 Dec, 2006 17:47
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Today I went on a nice 300 mile long road-trip into the hills of eastern PA. While I was impressed with how well the car coped with climbing long hills at highway speed, while carrying a lot of weight in the trunk. Seems some of those long climbs got the EGT's higher than 200k+ mile exhaust manifold gaksets could handle. Now the car sounds like a POS.
Anyway, what am I in for here? From what I can tell, it dosen't look fun. To make it less fun, last time I looked, the exhaust manifold nuts looked, well, rough, to say the least. Should I start pulling my hair out now?
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#1
by
burn_your_money
on 02 Dec, 2006 17:56
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well the good news is that the nuts usually don't come off the bolts, but the bolts just come right out of the head. Which is nice because you can replace them too.
I just took apart one and only 1 bolt stayed in, all the others cme out. They are 12mm and I don't know if you can get them off with the turbo still attatched, which is 12mm 12point.
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#2
by
anarchyx34
on 02 Dec, 2006 18:02
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Well that gives me some hope. Hopefully they do all come out, that way I can just pull the assembly away from the head 1mm, and slide the gasket in and out. That is if I can get to them all.
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#3
by
LeeG
on 03 Dec, 2006 22:37
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mine started leaking last month and I found most of the bolts were loose. I just tightened them up and its been fine since. I used a variety of 3/8" and 1/4" sockets and extensions and I think even a combination wrench, but I was able to get them all tightened while working from above.
Why they would get loose after 15 years and 400k I dont know. Can't say that I have been any nastier to it than usual.
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#4
by
burn_your_money
on 04 Dec, 2006 07:53
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I'm pretty sure they are supposed to be tightened to 30ft/lbs
It's not a single gasket either, there are 4 of them
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#5
by
anarchyx34
on 04 Dec, 2006 10:34
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I took a look today, and from what I can tell, the turbocharger and intake manifold have to come off in order to access everything. Big fun.
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#6
by
saurkraut
on 04 Dec, 2006 11:26
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Go from the bottom. You can get them all. I think you have to pull the turbo though.
I always check / retighten every couple months, and somthing is always loose.
I had a TD manifold plained to true up the flanges for my 1.5 project. I'll see if that makes any difference. Still got to find some more pieces to get that going.
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#7
by
monst
on 06 Dec, 2006 08:09
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I dont know if the set up is the same for
turbo and NA but, I figured I would add my
2 cents. On the Na it is 4 gaskets as well.
the gaskets are not symetrical. they have
a top and a bottom.... they can't be spun around.
they have to be flipped over... like lefts and rights..
the dealer has them with metal on one side and
hard gasket on the other.... (that is how i came to know this)
egerman parts has some good pics for the hard
gasket on both sides.... good price too.
Dont use the crapper felpro paper ones....
Also my exhaust mani nuts are copper....
and they are self locking... if you look at
the nut(out side) it is oblong... this locks it....
I wouldn't reuse old nuts... if this is the case
on the turbo.... get some new nuts..... there
are two different size nuts......... na is probably
the smaller one. but yeah, get new nuts if they
are locking type nuts.
And if you can work form under neath it is not
that horrible..... Use six point socket not 12 point...
I got in there with 1/4 drive pretty easily...... from
underneath..... My intake was 6mm hex(allen key
bolts......peace
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#8
by
myke_w
on 06 Dec, 2006 09:45
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I can get the true td gaskets (heavy duty all metal and fiber - non paper) ..Let me know if you need some.. They last far longer than the crappy na ones..
myke_w
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#9
by
anarchyx34
on 06 Dec, 2006 10:53
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OMG. I looked at the nuts from underneath the car. They dont even look like nuts anymore. The look like they've been on the bottom of the ocean for a few years. WTF tool am I going to use? I dont want to get stupid with an air hammer or anything.
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#10
by
addautomotive
on 06 Dec, 2006 11:25
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Mine were pretty rotten too... but they all came off. Trick is to clean them off as well as you can, and make sure whatever socket you use is well seated. On some that were dodgy, I used a 12pt 11mm socket.
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#11
by
LeeG
on 06 Dec, 2006 20:28
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canadian tires sells these things that are like a socket with a left hand thread inside them (like and inside out ez-out) designed to take off damaged nuts. havent tried them myself.......I like the cutting torch for jobs like this!
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#12
by
anarchyx34
on 24 Dec, 2006 07:27
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I took some pics. Here's the downpipe nuts first.
and...shudder.... the manifold nuts.
WTF do I do with that??
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#13
by
Fisher
on 24 Dec, 2006 09:13
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The Bolts are self locking, designed to be one time use. Should be replaced each time if you want them to stay tight. Different Nut for NA and TD.
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#14
by
anarchyx34
on 24 Dec, 2006 11:04
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I already bought all new hardware. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm supposed to get that mess apart.