exhaust manifold gaskets

[ztron]

alright...i'm still trying to get this car running in decent condition. i have smoke coming out of the bottom of the exhaust manifold. i haven't had the chance to jack it up and look at it to see if it's just the gasket or if it's cracked. this has only been happening since the car overheated. i'm also experiencing slight power loss in the lower RPMs with a little bit of shaking. i'm just wondering if a bad gasket will cause all this smoke and other symptoms the car is having. i'll probably replace all 3 gaskets over the weekend. would this help the smoke problem? if not, i'm about ready to dump this car.

[ztron]

well, i am going to try replacing the gaskets. hopefully all the bolts come out easily. it looks like two are missing off the bracket on the bottom when i checked it out. oil is definately leaking from around there and was dripping off the bottom of the manifold. i'm not sure if that's exactly where it's coming from, but i guess i'll find out once i get the manifold off.

[ztron]

i have everything unbolted from the manifold except the EGR pipe and the pipe directly under it. they seem to be on there pretty good and i can't get good leverage to get them off. tried some PB blaster, but i can't get it to move at all. any suggestions for unbolting these pieces?

[ztron]

i'm about to say screw the exhaust manifold gasket for now. i have the valve cover off and plan on replacing the gasket to see if leaking/smoking will stop at all. if oil is leaking onto the bottom of the exhaust manifold and burning, what are some other areas i should check out? the distributor looks like it may be leaking oil, but most of it looks old and is caked on there. i also had a problem with oil getting into my air cleaner, which is why i've been running the car without a filter element. some oil was coming down the hot air hose and burning on the exhaust manifold. i plugged the hole up where it meets at the air cleaner though. pcv valve was replaced also, but didn't seem to stop oil from getting into the air cleaner. any ideas or suggestions?

also, would i experience any major problems if i just bolted the exhaust manifold back on without replacing the gasket? i couldn't get it off because of those two pipes, but i did crack the seal. the gaskets do look like they need to be replaced, but i don't think i'm going to be able to do it at this time. i only want to do this after i replace the valve cover gasket so i can drive it to my friend's uncle's garage. he should be able to get those pipes off for me and then i can replace the gaskets. bad idea or no?

[shepherd79]

it is not a bad idea. sometimes the bolts can get rusty, very rusty. when i rebuild my motor i couldn't remove the same bolts. so i just took saws all and cut the damn down pipe, but i was planning to replace it with Pacesetter header anyway.
Just put everything back and take it to a mechanic.

[nswst8]

How many miles on the car. Oil filter base gasket is nortorious for leaking on the exhaust pipe. PB blaster and a torch wrench is usually good for stubborn bolts if not drill them out.
Where are you located north or south if rust is a major problem you might want to replace parts and bolts.
Hope this helps
Phil :cheers:

[ztron]

there's a little over 150,000 miles on the car. i could probably remove them myself if they were just normal bolts and i could put a socket on them, but they have pipes connected. i'm in Pennsylvania and rust isn't too much of a problem. i was thinking about replacing the oil filter base gasket, but i don't know if they carry them at the parts stores around here. i would have to go to the dealer. it's mainly just leaking on the exhaust manifold right where it bolts up with the downpipe, so i'm not sure if a bad oil filter base gasket would cause that. looks like it would be too far away and would just leak on the exhaust pipe.