Plain Jane OEM nothing to see here rebuild

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by RETed

It should have a similar mark on the turbo exhaust manifold.
Gasket looks okay...
Was the turbo exhaust manifold not bolted down tight enough?
Crack?


-Ted

We saw the same thing in that pic. Sometimes I post things to confirm what I'm already thinking, but also others can learn if they run into similar situations. A lot of times car forums have people posting the really cool and extreme stuff they are doing, but don't post mundane things. The mundane things I think help people such as myself, who don't have large real life network to bounce ideas/experiences off of.

That being said, Yes, IIRC I did have problems getting the front of the exhaust manifold bolted down. On the first rebuild, after the engine had been installed I then made the untimely decision to put new exhaust gaskets on. I do remember having trouble getting the front manifold nuts tightened down correctly. But also as this pic shows, I do have cracks in the manifold. They were there when the initial rebuild happened last year, I was hoping they were not long enough to cause a leak.


I have a spare S5 turbo manifold in storage, I'll get that either later tonight or tomorrow morning. I remember that the manifold wasn't in perfect shape, but that's as much as I remember.

What I don't know is what to expect from symptoms of an exhaust leak at that location. Louder exhaust, but what else?

I have heard of people welding and repairing cracks, but I've also heard that often times that the welded repair then becomes a problem down the road. It sounds like repairing those cracks are more a temporary fix than an long term solution. But the reason I'm bringing up temporary fixes is that this summer I will be taking welding classes. It is possible that this summer I will meet someone through the instructor of the class who could weld a new manifold for me. If I could learn to do the work myself that would be better, but might be a little ambitious of an expectation from an entry level welding class.