Driver's side exhaust leak

[Hokie]

Add another item to the list of things that have gone wrong with my Mounty

I've noticed during acceleration on the interstate that there is more exhaust noise/resonance than there should be. It's been noticeable on the driver's side, near the firewall. Fast forward to this weekend...

About the end of the Slaughterhouse run this weekend I noticed that my engine was making more noise. It sounded like an exhaust leak and having someone rev the engine with my head in the wheel well seems to confirm it. That stupid "tick tick tick tick" with acceleration, seems to be coming from the rear cylinder.

My truck is a '98 so I believe it has the cast headers? Also its on the driver's side so maybe its not the problematic cracked EGR junction on the passenger's side headers? Searching brings up numerous accounts of passenger side gasket/manifold leaks.

How bad is it to replace the gasket? Seems like it'll be PITA to get to. Do you have to remove the manifold from the exhaust down pipes (and the problematic collector bolts) or can you just un-bolt the manifold from the engine block and slide a new gasket in?

Do I go with the Fel-Pro copper gaskets or the dead soft aluminum ones from Jegs?

 

[techieman33]

You might check to see if the bolt is tight, I thought I had a similar problem, but when Jon and I took them off the bolts for the #5 cylinder were loose, well one was gone, and the other loose. If you have to replace the gasket you'll probably want to take it totally off to make getting the old gasket off easier, mine took quite a bit scraping to get them off.

 

[Hokie]

Thanks, I'll check that out before I go buying parts.

 

[410Fortune]

look for black soot to find the leak

The d side manifold is not too difficult to replace, its alot easier then the pass side on the 5.0L

Soak the header to down pipe bolts now from both sides.

When I looked at your manifolds they looked to be welded not cast
The 5.0L trucks are NOTORIOUS for cracked manifolds....
If you need one let me know

I have a thread in my BII build about replacing the gaskets with copper, your truck should be very similar. I can do drivers side in about 3 hours total on an Explorer.....some of the botls can be tricky, the dipstick has to come out, the exhaust bolts are a PITA sometimes, especially if never touched from the factory.

 

[Hokie]

look for black soot to find the leak

The d side manifold is not too difficult to replace, its alot easier then the pass side on the 5.0L

Soak the header to down pipe bolts now from both sides.

When I looked at your manifolds they looked to be welded not cast
The 5.0L trucks are NOTORIOUS for cracked manifolds....
If you need one let me know

I have a thread in my BII build about replacing the gaskets with copper, your truck should be very similar. I can do drivers side in about 3 hours total on an Explorer.....some of the botls can be tricky, the dipstick has to come out, the exhaust bolts are a PITA sometimes, especially if never touched from the factory.

Thanks Jaime. I guess I was assuming that the external EGR tubes = cast manifolds, but more research is proving that to be wrong.

 

[techieman33]

Thanks Jaime. I guess I was assuming that the external EGR tubes = cast manifolds, but more research is proving that to be wrong.

Dan Whitikers mainfolds are welded too, and he has the external egr too, so they switched manifolds later on.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

The drivers side is cake to change, assuming the gasket isn't stuck to the block or manifold. I got some Fel Pro gaskets from NAPA, they are the soft aluminum type, have worked well so far. If you need it, I have a cast drivers side manifold and all of my factory bolts.

 

[Hokie]

The drivers side is cake to change, assuming the gasket isn't stuck to the block or manifold. I got some Fel Pro gaskets from NAPA, they are the soft aluminum type, have worked well so far. If you need it, I have a cast drivers side manifold and all of my factory bolts.

Thanks, I may be taking you or Jaime up on your manifold offers. I would assume that I would want to install new manifold bolts, correct?

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I wouldn't worry about new bolts, I'd run the stock ones if they are all there and not rounded off.

 

[410Fortune]

I see no reason you cannot re use the bolts, they are not stretch to torque?
If he has the cast style manifolds with the EGR bung I would use those, mine are identical to yours and are welded