Manifold Gasket Replacement

[Jonathan]

Anyone tried replacing the Exhaust/Inlet manifold gasket on an MG Maestro before? Having been chugging around for almost a month in a car making a racket around town (a little embarassing, it's pretty loud) I made a start on replacing it today. The fact that the test runs out next week didn't leave me much choice.

The mounting on the left of the manifold (as you're facing it) underneath the thermostat housing appears to me to be almost completely inaccessible without removing the engine. It has the manifold to one side and below, and the thermostat housing to the other and above! According to that infallible instruction book from Haynes it's accessible from above? On my car there's not even a nut on that thread (perhaps that's why it sounds and performs like a VW Beetle) - how does one get at it without dismantling half the car?

Any other tips appreciated too, is it worth applying any gasket seal to give a better seal? I don't want it going again.

This combined with last weekend's failed attempt at replacing the front discs (dead easy you'd think but the screws holding them on will only be removable with a drill now and removal of the calliper mounts involved a trolley jack and a breaker bar) have left me short of quite a bit of skin :)

[MGTurbo]

You in for some hell. Me and my Dad recently carried out this job on our J Reg. First of all make sure its not the frontpipe blowing instead, rule this out as this is easy compared to the exhaust/inlet manifold gasket change. The bolt your talking about is IMO one of the easier bolts to get to, its the ones under the manifold that are the right *******. DNA unless you have pateince (which i seem to get less of as i get older) and plenty of time. Upon refitting the gasket use NO sealent, just clean the mating surfaces with emery cloth and some thinners.

Gareth

[Jonathan]

No I'm pretty certain it's the manifold gasket, and the job's already beyond the point of no turning back...

The bolts under the manifold are tricky to access, I was fortunate that they were not done up very tightly. The driveshaft and the sump are positioned just perfectly in the way where you don't want them, and you're performing remote keyhole surgery on four bolts about a mile away. It doesn't help having a car where virtually everything underneath is soaked in oil.

I *hate* jobs like this, but recent experience of garages is that they either can't do it quickly enough or can't do it properly.

[Jonathan]

Oh dear. Once again it looks like I've managed to turn a bad situation into a crisis. Having completed the job, or so I thought, car now fires and dies instantly. I suspect this may have something to do with the 1mm gap seen from above in the areas between the each of the two pairs of inlet manifold ports, and that's after I tightened up all mountings as much as I dare. The inlet manifold doesn't line up with the supporting bars either.

MOT on Thursday too. No chance I think, it's a shame when a car that's been so reliable for thousands of miles reaches the stage where so many things are going wrong it can't be relied on as a daily mode of transport anymore :(

:banghead:

[tony]

i may be talking out of my ass but,at this stage would it be easier now to take the head off to fix this problem?dont shout at me if i am wrong i have not had this problem:rolleyes:

[Mat_C]

If it "fires up and dies" - that sounds like you might have disturbed/forgotten to re-connect etc something - get a fresh set of eyes to have a look 'just incase' because you might be so 'deep' into it you can't see the wood for the trees!

Happens to me all the time :banghead:

[Jonathan]

The problems continue... You'd think I'd just disturbed something but having now tried plugging the 1mm gaps between inlet manifold and head and having disconnected and reconnected everything we're not getting very far :( There's plenty of fuel getting to the injectors, ignition should be fine too - so it's almost certain to be a problem with the mixture. But what? I suspect it has to have a perfect seal between the manifold and head to run but as mentioned above that doesn't appear to be physically possible! Very strange, and very frustrating.

It's something I probably need to get sorted pretty quickly given that the MG Saloon day is now only two weeks away; at this rate of progress the Maestro won't be coming at all. I spent an hour just trying to change a foot pedal rubber the other day! :banghead: I'm tempted to get the Rover garage to have a look because I'm getting out of my depth but how much does one have to spend in garage bills to get a smooth running car?

[tony]

your not the only one feeling the pressure cho,you me and others as well i suspect:rolleyes:
good point though i got the engine runing for the first time today,change the oil before starting it ,it was like treacle:censored: the oil filter was empty of oil,.won`t tick over at less than 2,000 revs,tried the tick over screw nothing doing,perhaps it needs a run on the road,it has been nearly 3 years :D

[Maria]

I want to bring the camper and the race car like last year, but Muddle's just failed the MOT on the exhaust (Gonna get a nice Powerflow stainless one - anyone know whether it'll uprate the performance at all? It'll definitely LOOK better!), and WBM has a bent bonnet and a smashed windscreen from Snetterton!

[H48HPE]

i dont know if its the same for a diesel, but on a petrol changing the exaust sytem upsets the tune of the engine so that you lose performance until its re tuned.

andy

[Jonathan]

What an utter b***ard of a job! :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

I give up. Completely removed and refitted manifold today but with the same problem, it's just not physically possible to tighten the bolts underneath enough to mate it with the engine properly. At least not with the tools and resources I've got. If I hadn't been so over confident I'd have taken it to an exhaust place before the MOT was up.

Definately one of those jobs not to be attempted at any cost. Leave it to the 'professionals' if such things still exist.