Volvo P1800 Exhaust Manifold Leaks Repair

Views: 21

A month or two ago, I noticed very weird boboboboo sound from the engine compartment. Later did I saw the exhaust pipe has dropped from the manifold, causing exhaust gas leaked from the manifold directly.

I measured the exhaust pipe diameter, bought several exhaust gaskets, and try to repair or reinstall the exhaust pipe back to the manifold myself. I even bought a new bolts and nuts with some washers. Upon checking, I thought there is no exhaust gasket in the initial connection of the two.

I ordered several donut shape gaskets to fit to the manifold and exhaust pipes. I thought they should be tighten enough, though I can still feel some gas emitting from the joint, but thought is OK.

It lasted only a few weeks, and I can hear the wrongful bobobobooo sound from the engine bay again. I bought another TWO pieces of the same donut gasket, thinking that it should solve the problem with a thicker gasket. How wrong…

Again, another 1 week+, the same problem occurs. This time I am baffled. I decided to send the car to my usual mechanic for checking.

Went there this morning, job done within 30 minutes.

It turns out that the gasket used in the joint should be the round type, not the donut type that I bought. The old round and thick gasket was already broken hence when I put the donut gasket over it, it won’t seal the gas fully, and became brittle after a short period of time. This round gasket is around 39.5mm internal diameter.

Photos below show the difference of my donut shape gasket vs the round shape gasket.

This is the final result of the work. No nut is needed as per the mechanic, as he said there were screw threads inside the manifold, so it tighten enough.

No more bobobooo sound and no gas leaking that can be felt from the joint. Lesson learnt and work done. RM20 charged by the workshop, way cheaper than the sum of gaskets that I bought myself.