I've got blowing coming from under the car and an exhaust smell coming from under the bonnet, and suspect it could well be the rear (ES9J4) exhaust manifold gasket gone but it'll be a hell of a lot of work to get to that so I need to make sure first. I also don't want to go to all the effort only to discover it's the manifold itself or the clamp or something daft...
Any ideas how to pinpoint the leak?
PS. Want to know how much Peugeot want for a new ES9J4 cat? £1129!!!! Still £280 from eurocarparts
<steve_earwig> I think this forum is more about keeping our cars going with minimal outlay than giving our cars more reason to go bang
Im sure your familiar with the kitchen paper trick....
Can you access the clamps to the manifold from the underside easily? If so then you might not have to remove the whole thing. £280 for a CAT sounds about right. If you're fitting yourself then its a bargain (by irish standards)
2000 D9 Coupé 2.0 SE EW10J4 Scarlet Red - 5 litres of oil gone in 500 miles!!! Time for a new coupe me thinks
eoin27 wrote:Im sure your familiar with the kitchen paper trick....
No? Wet some kitchen roll and wrap it round stuff until the sound goes or a fire starts?
Can you access the clamps to the manifold from the underside easily? If so then you might not have to remove the whole thing.
I'll probably have to drop the subframe (yet again ) to get access to anything, but getting the rear bank exhaust manifold off is a pretty involved job - removing the 2-into-1 manifold, then stripping down the throttle and inlet manifold, removing the inlet manifold (new gasket required on re-fitting), removing the exhaust manifold heat shield, then unbolting the manifold itself with very little access (4 nuts beneath, 6 on top)
<steve_earwig> I think this forum is more about keeping our cars going with minimal outlay than giving our cars more reason to go bang
eoin27 wrote:Im sure your familiar with the kitchen paper trick....
No? Wet some kitchen roll and wrap it round stuff until the sound goes or a fire starts?
Come on Matt, you must have done the old "hold a bit of tissue around a leak area to see when it moves" trick!
Did it happen all of a sudden?
1996 406 1.8LX Got a bad case of hydro lock!
1996 406 Executive 2.0 Turbo XU10J2TE No longer hangin' on in there
1997 Honda CB500V
2003 Volvo V40 1.8 GDi SE killed by a nutter in a beemer 5 series
2008 Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Titanium X
"Always look on the bright side of life, dedo, dedo dedodedo"
teamster1975 wrote:Come on Matt, you must have done the old "hold a bit of tissue around a leak area to see when it moves" trick!
Nope!
Did it happen all of a sudden?
Nah, it's always been a bit smelly under there, but since driving in Ireland it's gotten embarrassingly noisy...
steve_earwig wrote:Get someone* to stick their had over the end (via rag) and have a listen. Of course, depending on the seriousness of the leak the engine might stop.
Thing is every possible source of the leak is "up there somewhere behind the engine" so I won't be able to tell unaided
You know, I might try my wet paper towel idea, except using a rag or something. That should let me rule out everything up to the manifold
<steve_earwig> I think this forum is more about keeping our cars going with minimal outlay than giving our cars more reason to go bang
With the car in the air and the undertray off, it was dead easy to find and fix it. Turned out to be one of the clamps on the front bank. Replaced it and tada!
I think it was a combination of the manifold heat shield and the undertray reflecting the sound that made it appear to be coming from the rear, but once underneath, it was dead easy to locate. The black section of pipe just confirmed it
So very glad it wasn't the rear... there's no way to get anywhere near it without taking the subframe off - the rear manifold's about 18" from the closest I can get my hand
<steve_earwig> I think this forum is more about keeping our cars going with minimal outlay than giving our cars more reason to go bang
1996 406 1.8LX Got a bad case of hydro lock!
1996 406 Executive 2.0 Turbo XU10J2TE No longer hangin' on in there
1997 Honda CB500V
2003 Volvo V40 1.8 GDi SE killed by a nutter in a beemer 5 series
2008 Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Titanium X
"Always look on the bright side of life, dedo, dedo dedodedo"
Still £280 from eurocarparts 
) to get access to anything, but getting the rear bank exhaust manifold off is a pretty involved job - removing the 2-into-1 manifold, then stripping down the throttle and inlet manifold, removing the inlet manifold (new gasket required on re-fitting), removing the exhaust manifold heat shield, then unbolting the manifold itself with very little access (4 nuts beneath, 6 on top)
