exhaust manifold gasket help

[rson]

i started to notice a ticking sound around where my manifold is. I think that i may have a leak from a broken gasket. Can anyone help me with the procedure on how to replace it. Is it a job that I could do myself? Pictures or diagrams of how the job would be done would be greatly appreciated. Also is there any other gasket around there that could leak cause i would like to replace those while i have the manifold apart. Thanks in advance. One more thing the motor is a m130 2.8

[w113dude]

It is possible the gasket has a leak or it could be your exhaust manifold seals, and the Yes you can do it yourself, you'll have to remove about ten number 13mm nuts from the lower side of the intake manifold, these nuts will loosen the exhaust manifold aswell you may also have to loosen the exhaust manifolds from the pipes that are 12mm nuts and 13mm bolt then they all come apart in addition to what to you see on the top of the manifold linkages and etc..., installation is the reverse. first time doing, give yourself a good Saturday morning.
BDW before starting it would be a good idea to spray some solvent like wd40 or something stronger the night before on the nuts so you wont pull the studs off instead as turning CC wise.

Parts cost is about $10.00 at www.autohausaz.com I would also change the exhaust manifold seal rings, as you take those out you have to put new ones for better seal

good luck.

[rson]

It is possible the gasket has a leak or it could be your exhaust manifold seals, and the Yes you can do it yourself, you'll have to remove about ten number 13mm nuts from the lower side of the intake manifold, these nuts will loosen the exhaust manifold aswell you may also have to loosen the exhaust manifolds from the pipes that are 12mm nuts and 13mm bolt then they all come apart in addition to what to you see on the top of the manifold linkages and etc..., installation is the reverse. first time doing, give yourself a good Saturday morning.
BDW before starting it would be a good idea to spray some solvent like wd40 or something stronger the night before on the nuts so you wont pull the studs off instead as turning CC wise.

Parts cost is about $10.00 at www.autohausaz.com I would also change the exhaust manifold seal rings, as you take those out you have to put new ones for better seal

good luck.

Should I do this procedure from above the motor or from under the car. Just wondering cause i dont remember too much space being there from under the car. My mercedes is a 280se sedan.

[w113dude]

on a 280se you have even more room to work with in the engine compartment, the work gets done from the top of the engine. take a good look at the manifold you'll see right below the nuts that hold it in place

[waqas]

Yes, the 108 and 111 cars have a little more room. But I've also done this job on my 230 SL and it's not too bad. Regardless of how much room you have, some nuts will need to be loosened from above, and others from below.

You would do well to heed the recommendations for spraying with penetrant overnight; I would go much further and start soaking them for a few nights in advance, refreshing each night. The heat from the exhaust has likely bonded these pretty tight.

Speaking of heat bonding, those down-pipes are going to be quite difficult to separate from the manifolds without some lateral stress, and may require quite a bit of wiggling before the pipes separate, depending on their condition. On my car, once I had removed all six nuts/bolts from the joints, I raised the car enough to be able to drop the entire exhaust. I then removed all exhaust mounts to leave the entire assembly just dangling from the downpipe/manifold joints. Grabbing the exhaust pipes from the very rear, I shook and moved the pipes from side to side (think of this as a giant lever with the joints acting as the pivot points) until the down-pipes broke free of the manifolds.

I re-assembled mine by first suspending the exhaust and re-attaching all the mountings before pulling apart the manifold joints just enough to slip in the new metal exhaust gaskets. You may need to wiggle the pipes a bit to re-insert the bolts enough to attach the nuts and tighten.

I wouldn't touch the exhaust manifold-to-engine bolts until the downpipes have been separated from the manifolds. Once that is done, you can decide whether or not you want to remove the manifolds from the engine.

Hope this helps.

[glenn]

Wagas has it right.  The triangular captive bracket fitting area(exhaust manifold to down pipe) gets bonded.  I have one out of the car that refuses to separate- with a lot of heat and persuasion.   You will need two ring gaskets for down pipes.

[Cees Klumper]

Just a word of caution on the procedure that Waqas has helpfully described: since the manifolds are cast iron they are 'brittle' and can break if under too much stress. They're also costly new. On my car, I had the opposite problem from others: I could not get the downpipes to seal properly against the manifolds, no matter what, and they'd always leak. As it turned out, this was due to incorrectly fitting pipes, that would not allow for a tension fit as designed. Then I suppose it's that tension that, over time, may get them to become 'overly tight'.

[waqas]

Cees is absolutely correct: the manifolds are extremely brittle, so it would be best to avoid any techniques involving sudden impacts. The wiggling and flexing of the exhaust system should do the trick, but avoid any hammering!

[stickandrudderman]

There is a small potential for disaster here.
As others have said do not try to remove the manifolds until you have successfully seperated the downpipe from the manifold. I've seen some that simply will not seperate and this is with them being heated  with a torch and already off the car. (mind you, with a name like "rson" you should be fairly handy with the torch!). If you try to seperate them and fail at least you can still drive the car to the garage to have them do it. You want to avoid getting the car into an undriveable state until you are confident that everything is going as planned.
Other than that it's a fairly simple job.
When the manifolds are off you should remove, clean and lubricate the throttle linkage bell-crank that's bolted to the side of the block. Access is easy with the manifolds removed and they are prone to sieze up over time. You should also take a look at your engine mountings as they too are a doddle with the manifolds off.

[rson]

Yes, the 108 and 111 cars have a little more room. But I've also done this job on my 230 SL and it's not too bad. Regardless of how much room you have, some nuts will need to be loosened from above, and others from below.

You would do well to heed the recommendations for spraying with penetrant overnight; I would go much further and start soaking them for a few nights in advance, refreshing each night. The heat from the exhaust has likely bonded these pretty tight.

Speaking of heat bonding, those down-pipes are going to be quite difficult to separate from the manifolds without some lateral stress, and may require quite a bit of wiggling before the pipes separate, depending on their condition. On my car, once I had removed all six nuts/bolts from the joints, I raised the car enough to be able to drop the entire exhaust. I then removed all exhaust mounts to leave the entire assembly just dangling from the downpipe/manifold joints. Grabbing the exhaust pipes from the very rear, I shook and moved the pipes from side to side (think of this as a giant lever with the joints acting as the pivot points) until the down-pipes broke free of the manifolds.


I re-assembled mine by first suspending the exhaust and re-attaching all the mountings before pulling apart the manifold joints just enough to slip in the new metal exhaust gaskets. You may need to wiggle the pipes a bit to re-insert the bolts enough to attach the nuts and tighten.

I wouldn't touch the exhaust manifold-to-engine bolts until the downpipes have been separated from the manifolds. Once that is done, you can decide whether or not you want to remove the manifolds from the engine.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the help guys! Since I have a good idea of what i need to do. What do i do with the linkage setup. Should all that have to be taken out? Also there seems to be an aluminum plate that sits between the intake manifold and the exhaust manifold. I cant really see the bolts that attach everything to the block.

[rson]

Wagas has it right.  The triangular captive bracket fitting area(exhaust manifold to down pipe) gets bonded.  I have one out of the car that refuses to separate- with a lot of heat and persuasion.   You will need two ring gaskets for down pipes.

Do you recommend any sites where i can get the ring gaskets?

[w113dude]

www.autohausaz.com has every thing that you need.

[280SE Guy]

there seems to be an aluminum plate that sits between the intake manifold and the exhaust manifold. I cant really see the bolts that attach everything to the block.

The aluminum plate is held on with two clamps. See picture below which shows one of the clamps:



You can use a screw driver or the proper size socket to remove the clamps.

You might need some penetrate on the screw threads to get them lubricated prior to removal.

Regards,

280SE Guy


 

[rson]

www.autohausaz.com has every thing that you need.

Do you have a link? im haveing a hard time finding the seal rings on autohausaz. I found the manifold gasket but not the rings.

[w113dude]

try this number in the search, make sure you pick the right dia. for your car. 

004 997 99 40

[rson]

Anyone have any suggestion about the linkage setup? Should it be taken out? I see how I would be able to pull the manifold away with out taking the Linkage setup off first?

[w113dude]

yes, you can just pop those linkage rods out by pulling on the but not too hard or they might get bent. try to pull on them as close as possible to the end of those rods. before putting the linkage rods back together make sure to grease the ball housing.

[stickandrudderman]

Don't pull the rods, use a 10mm open ended spanner between the ball and the socket.