Why is it.....................?

[antnicuk]

everytime i refit an engine i get an exhaust leak at the manifold.......  i used a decent set of gasgets.........

I will try tightening it all up again when it has warned up and cooled down a few times..

[cjr]

mine sounds like a tractor at the front even though I had everything skimmed flat. God nows but it is annoying

[antnicuk]

well if yours does it,  then i dont stand a chance!!   any hints you can give us mere beginners??

[Carl]

Make sure that all of the studs are really clean,
grease them up before assembling and give them quite a bit of welly too when you tighten them.All faces should be really well cleaned and gaskets too with a wire brush wheel on an arbour.Check the gaskets very carefully for any minute cracks,sometimes they are not allways obvious.
Regards
Carl

[antnicuk]

cheers carl,  they are clean and have copper grease on them,  i havent given them that much abuse with the socket yet,  alsways frightened of snapping one...  I will tighten the some more

regards
Tony

[cjr]

Pray! seriously taking it off and putting it back on does the trick most times. I\'m a lazy sod when it comes to my car. So i will get round to it when i decide to put a new gasket on my leaky turbo oil drain. (distant future i think)

[K1HKS arse]

Have found that also Chris but have also had ones that just wont seal even though gaskets looked fine,changed gaskets in the end which worked.
Always found used gaskets to work better and i always try to use proper exhaust flange nuts to stop them from coming lose again which seems common aswell (well mine does anyway),if not i put 2 normal nuts on each stud.

Had a S14 200SX in with a serious manifold blow,owner had used nyloc nuts which melted,whole turbo assembly was hanging off the head resting on inner wing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MikeLMR]

you can buy various types of locking nuts, the metal crimped ones or heli lock nuts (locked with a single deformed thread on thread insert within the nut) would be ideal for manifolds as they won\'t melt. one thing to note is that with the metal or heli lock nuts there is a finite life to the nut and the stud as the threads get worn.

This is also a common problem with studs, because the nut always pulls up tight in the same place on the stud the threads can become damaged in that area and will never stay tight.