Ike Luv

I hope you guys could help me out...
I took a photo of where the air is leaking out, from the manifold to where it meets the cat, its right where the 2 tubes meet. They are held together with special star bolts so its kinda out of the question for me to tighten...Is a gasket supposed to be at that gap??

desired_speeds

there is a gasket built into the exhaust manifold but I dont think there is a separate gasket. you might be ok with loosening the star bolts and readjustment and if that doesn't work maybe just throw a bunch of exhaust gasket maker on the flanges.

Ike Luv

I wonder how that got loose? Would it be as simple as just tightening it back again? You think I would have to take anything down to get to it?

Ike Luv

I guess I should also mention I am new to this forum I really hate that my 1st post is about a problem, I hope I can offer as much help to you all as I can.

Ike Luv

Should I try to do it myself? i dont wanna run the risk of striping them. Could this be a simple fix at a muffler shop? I'm throwing a few codes, I hope this will be the cure.

stockC43

Just tightnen them up so both flanges are parallel. If you tighten one all the way first it won't sit properly and it will leak. It's a ball shaped seat, no gaskets needed. Don't use sealer eather. The size is a inverted torx and I can't remember if it's a e10 or 12. A 6 point 8mm or 10mm can work if you are careful. Don't round if off or your screwed. Good luck

BBBSS

A decent exhaust shop will fix this in under 5 minutes. Make sure they have inverted torx sockets though. A cheap shop may do something crazy like toss a vice grip on there. lol

izzyz28

I had a leak in the same place, its a common problem. Unfortunately its probably not the socket that's leaking, but a crack in the manifold right where the flange is welded on. I had it happen on both sides and was fortunately able to run a bead of weld across the cracks. Start the car and run your hand around the upper part of the flange. If its leaking you'll feel the exhaust leaking from the crack. You can do this from the engine bay or get underneath. Look for black carbon tracking too.

Ike Luv

Thanks for the advice, this thing is really killing me. Like an annoying thing... I gotta find someone to do it for me.

Ike Luv

Ok, so I had no choice but to go some muffler shops in the Bronx, these guys I don't trust at all!! The few I passed through all said "Oh yea this is a big joooob...$300-$400 lots of labor..." All of them are trying to hit me over the head. Maybe I will try going up to CT? I dont really have a trusted guy that I can go to. It really sucks, NY is the wrong place not to have a trusted mechanic.

Ike Luv

What causes this? Bad motor mounts? Did you have to take down the exhaust? All these shops are telling me its alot of work, I feel they are bull****ing me...

mertd93

It's not a big job at all, I can take care of it, pm me.

stockC43

they are or they just don't want to get involved. It may of cracked, the bolts "usally" don't work loose. The nuts pressed into the manifold are locking nuts. Have mertd93 look at it and go from there. A small inspection mirror may help as well. If its cracked, I'm sure plenty of people on the forums have manifolds lying around if you need one. Or just weld it with stainless welding wire.

BBBSS

This would be a good excuse for headers if it is cracked. Just saying. Lol

izzyz28

It happened after I changed all of my mounts, but they were destroyed before I replaced them. I'm sure bad mounts didn't help. I did not drop the exhaust, just put a floor jack under it to squeeze everything together and welded the cracks. That was probably 50K miles ago and it's been fine since. Get someone to look at it and go from there. We don't even know what the actual issue is yet.

Ike Luv

Ok so we found where the crack was.....well without mertd93 it wouldn't have been found...dude really knows his stuff. Just an all around good person in general!
I was throwing a p0505 code as well, could never figure out why, mertd93 found some unplugged hoses and saw the Y pipe wasn't seated at the throttle body properly. Just those things brought life back to the car......As for the crack, its about 4 inches up the pipe above the flange on the manifold end.

We should get the manifold squared away in a few days, I will update with pics in case someone else has this issue.... Sometime when you think you checked everything, you still miss stuff. Thanks again goes out to mertd93, he saved a Beast from drowning!

Ike Luv

So here we go... Here is a pic of my destroyed header

Ike Luv

These pics are my 1. destroyed motor mount & 2. disco'd purge line ( the bottom metal line, should have a rubber hose attached)

Ike Luv

Mertd93 probably has the best mechanical know how of anyone I've come across in a long time. Mike basically saved this cars life!

Due to the destroyed motor mounts, the engine was basically attempting to leap out of the engine bay. With the terribly violent shifts the motor was making with every tap of the gas pedal, the header basically snapped. (see the pic above) I was also throwing a CEL P0505, this was due to the metal purge line being disco'd (see pic above). That was also thanks to the insane violent shifts in the motor under a heavy gas pedal.

Mertd93 definitely knows his stuff. I really can't say enough about him, he literally pulled this car out of a coma. His car is in MINT condition as well, a pristine example of the shape these cars should be in. Not to mention the power potential.

Thanks again bro!

garfull

i think i have the same leak at the driver side. any advice at how to take the header out. i can't see how to get to all the nuts?