Hey,

Is it possible to get to the top two exhaust manifold bolts without pulling the turbos out? I've got an exhaust leak I'm chasing down, and I've tightened all of the turbo to manifold bolts, and I tightened the lower two manifold bolts tonight. I was planning on trying to get to the top two manifold bolts tomorrow, but I couldn't tell if it is possible.

I'll need to take off the intake and the y-pipe it looks like, but will I be able to reach them at that point?

- Andy

 

Whew, boy that’s a tight question. You may have luck with the rear, but there are many obstacles between you and the front one. Let me just say this about an exhaust leak on a turbo car. These are special gaskets. Once they are (properly) installed torqued and installed with (new) hardware. The chances of your tightening anything is not going to make the leak go away. This is just the way it is. When they go bad, for what ever reason they are done. I had one on my car, I thought it was the down pipe? Went through that pain in the a$$ trouble to change it not to mention it cost 40 bucks and it wasn't the problem. Nope, when I tore it down for a rebuild the turbo to engine manifold gasket was cracked and no amount of tightening was going to fix it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, this is the main reason new gaskets are expensive, can't go cheap it our high temp environment.
Good luck and hopefully I'm wrong!

Terrry7

 

Well, you definately could be right ... But since it's free, I'd like to give tightening the bolts a shot. I've already found one manifold to engine bolt very loose, and one turbo to manifold bolt completely missing. Now that I've fixed those two, the leak sound is not nearly as bad, but it's still there.

 

Yeah, the top bolts will be VERY hard to get to with the turbos on the car, if not impossible. Pulling the turbos may be in your future.

Dale

 

So, you need to do documentation and provide us all a detailed write up on your successful results when they occur. I know your not the only one out there with an exhaust leak. I know I didn't like listening to mine. I only put up with it, because as the motor warmed up the metal expanded and it did quite down some. I'm looking forward to not hearing it at all now that it's been rebuilt. I should get it started this week. I can't wait!!

 

You can get the fasteners off without pullling the turbos off but it is a feat. I do mine with the car raised up on jack stands and by reaching around with a snapon 7" combo wrench and many wrench flips and turns I was able to get them off. soak them with wd40 or whatever your favorite penetrating oil is to start and new nuts are a godsend when reinstalling them. I agree if you have a leak then tightening the nuts will most likley not cure your issue. check the manifold housing itself for the traditional cracks before you get to carried away and snap a fastener.
Good Luck

 

I just took my dp off to get it ceramic coated and an EGT bung welded on.

All I did was remove the pipes to the airbox. The rear turbo inlet tube (two 10mm nuts), the airpump, then the 4 nuts that hold the y-pipe on. This gives you clear access to the top tow bolts.

I can take a picture if you want.

 

Well criminey.... alright, well I have a set of turbos with less shaft play than the ones on the car. Maybe I'll use this as an opportunity to switch over to them.

 

Yes, a picture or two would be great.

 

Ok, well I'll get to it this weekend or next. If I swap out the turbos, I'll make sure I document it and post it. Thanks guys!

 

Is my car different as mine has aheat shield around the exhaust maifold and IIRC covers the top two bolts, I also thought you had to remove the exhaust manifold to get LIM off ? ? Confused here.

 

ah sorry, I thought you guys were talking about the downpipe bolts. My bad

 

It's actually not really hard to pull the turbos' and manifold. It could be a little time-consuming if it is your first time, but it's not hard.

 

Jack,

As you described, that's how every car that I've pulled turbos' on was.

 

Ok, well darn. I just pulled the turbos off of the car and and all the gaskets were fine. No cracks or breaks. The manifold isn't cracked either. One thing I did notice is that the nuts on the rear of the exhaust manifold were torqued a LOT tighter than the ones on the front. I'm thinking the leak I was hearing was probably just loose bolts. Anyway, I'll start putting everything back together this week and see what happens.

I'll do some searching for this, but if anyone wants to answer quickly, that'd be nice ... Even though the gaskets between the turbos and the manifold, and between the manifold and the engine looked fine, should I replace them anyway now that they've been used?

- Andy

 

It is not too difficult to pull the turbos off. It took me a while the first time, but now, I can have everything off (with all associated parts) in under an hour.

 

The gaskets are reuseable and if they look to be in good condition will be ok.