What noise like blown exhaust in RRC 3.9V8 could be related to cylinder # 8?

Broken/loose exhaust manifold stud/nut?

Hmm. As the nuts are rusted solid to the studs a little (in)judicious tightening could have terminal consequences. But it's a good suggestion - especially as the sound has been getting louder.

Who'd own a 20-year old RR?

Ta

Richard

Not quite so bad - or bad in a equally bad but different way:

exhaust-to-head gasket is blowing at the very back of the manifold :- (

What chance is there of Gun Gum (*) holding and not catching the eye of Mr MOT Tester when the time comes?

• can you still buy Gun Gum?

Richard

Yes you can still buy it. TBH it's a good fix for a blowing exhaust gasket, try to get exhaust the manifold off as far as possible, use a putty knife or small bladed screwdriver to pack as much GG into the joint as you can ... obviously do this with the engine cold .. ;)

Tighten the exhaust studs as best you can, or if you can't use a c-clamp/jack/anything available, to apply some pressure to the joint and start the engine up and let it tick over, steadily increasing the heat. This might cure the GG enough to hold together for a short while enough to get through a MOT .. don't expect it to last too long though, and do a proper job on it when you can!

Thinking about it, if you can use some of the bandage to wedge into the gap too, then when it's cured, cut excess off, but don't drive too far before the MOT .. and hope it works!!

OTOH, use shit-loads of PlusGas on the threads over a couple of days and try to tighten the exhaust gasket stud nuts down so it closes ..

Good Luck .. ;)

Hi Paul

If the job was predicated as being simple, i.e. unbolt manifold without trauma, drop in new gasket and re-tighten, I'd have no hesitation in getting it done. However, I can't imagine that I won't break a stud or strip the thread out of the head - there's a bolt at the top of each branch and a stud at the bottom, is that right?

• interestingly the gasket that has blown appears to be from a tube rather than a sheet of gasket. Maybe that hints at earlier trauma. I guess that I'd have to clean the old gasket stuff off both faces. :- (

There's no way I'm going to spring for my bloke to replace the gaskets

- there appears to be one for each cylinder(*) rather than a single big gasket, is that right? - the RR just isn't worth it.

Bloody cars

Cheers

Richard

I now have some Wurth Rost Ice which my SAAB bloke reckoned to be great at breaking the grip of rust on exhaust bolts/studs/nuts.

What chance do I have of prising the exhaust mainfold far enough away from the head such that I can force some stuff into the gap to seal the leak (always assuming that I can undo the nuts).

Richard

If it's that good I'd take all the m,anifold nuts off and do it right .. or at least enough so i could bodge it 'easily', IYSWIM .. ;)

Even without much gap high temperature silicone sealant should get in there ok and do the job long enough for your MOT.

Thanks Paul/EMB

I feel a little more encouraged. I also managed to contact the bod who MOTs it. He said there's no chance of leavering the manifold away from the head - or if I do I'm likely to bend it! And that I may find that the bolts are loose anyway. I should also look for the one- gasket-per-port gaskets rather than one-for-all and do them in pairs.

Wish me luck

Richard

Post-fix and MOT test (!) update.

I chickened out of tackling this 'little' task and gave in and asked my spannerer if he would deal with it while getting the beast through the MOT test. I'm sooo glad that I did. The O/S exhaust manifold was distorted and had to be scrapped. The whole job - including getting it off the down pipe - took four hours.

Big thanks to John Trafford at Quadratech for sorting me out - as always. :-)

Richard

Heheh, always the chance that 'things don't go right'.

Glad you got it sorted .. ;)