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Old 06-02-2011, 08:06 AM   #1
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1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

Knowing that the van I just bought had a exhaust leak at the manifold didn't turn me off since I'm a DIYr and figured I could handle it. Anyway, I cracked open the van last night and to my pleasant surprise, this 18 year old van is in really damn good shape. Sure the manifold and it's bolts are rusted and were a nightmare to gain access to and remove, but I did eventually get that part of the job done.

Now onto my question. Exhaust manifolds of this era apparently didn't get gaskets. From my interwebs research I found that Ford simply added grease to both the manifold and the head and once torqued properly and heated to operating temps, the grease would cook and bake into the cast iron creating a good seal.

Is it a crime to add an exhaust gasket where there never was one?

There are two reasons I ask.

1. I'm not convinced the grease will work a second time and I'd hate to put this mess back together only to find out it didn't work.
2. This particular manifold has some sort of emission hard pipe coming out the front of it. It's locked in there and I am unable and somewhat apprehensive about trying to forcibly remove it. Not removing it prevents me from removing the manifold from the engine bay for me to grease both the mani and the head. I can however get the manifold far enough away from the head to slip in a gasket - which I feel has a better chance of creating a decent seal.

what say you?

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Old 06-02-2011, 09:24 AM   #2
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

Yes, use a gasket.

When I had a 5.8L, I towed really heavy with it (~11,000 pounds) which took its toll on the manifold. The muffler shop i go to stretched and planed the manifold before installing, and that finally made it stop leaking for good. Just doing the gasket alone did not last.

Recently,the diesel mechanic I work with told me about Remflex. These are designed to work with warped manifolds. If you can't pull the manifold, using Remflex would be your best option.
http://catalog.remflex.com/
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Old 06-03-2011, 01:40 PM   #3
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

thank you! I did a little more digging and everything pointed a remflex so I went ahead and bought a set as well as a new set of bolts for the passenger side. Hopefully I can get this back together next week. I'm anxious to get this on the road!
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Old 06-07-2011, 08:50 AM   #4
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

I think the pipe out of the front of the manifold is the EGR. Deleting it will cause the engine to run hot.

My manifold is cracked on the right. How big a job is this going to be. Any lessons learned appreciated.

Tom
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Old 06-07-2011, 10:00 AM   #5
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

Pulling the manifolds on the 5.8L isn't too hard. Although, as mentioned, the EGR tube can seize.

Use lots of PB Blaster while the engine is still warm. Be prepared to extract broken studs. Usually you can weld a tab onto the broken stud once the manifold is out.
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Old 06-07-2011, 10:31 AM   #6
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluedog225
I think the pipe out of the front of the manifold is the EGR. Deleting it will cause the engine to run hot.

My manifold is cracked on the right. How big a job is this going to be. Any lessons learned appreciated.

Tom
I wasn't planning on removing the EGR for good - I simply can not get it loose in order to remove the manifold.

It's been several days since I've had a chance to work on this, but here's what I remember and what I've learned so far:

1. the two or three front mani studs are only accessible through the wheel well. You may be able to simply turn the wheels full lock in order to gain access, but I opted to remove the front passenger wheel.
2. the intake manifold has a bracket that attaches to one of the studs on the exhaust mani. I tried to work around it, but ultimately it was just easier to remove that bracket completely.

The mani gasket has arrived so I should be able to tackle this soon. If I come up with any other helpful tips I'll be sure to add them.
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Old 06-08-2011, 10:50 AM   #7
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

reporting back - I spent last evening getting everything back together... it took me nearly 3 hours! If it weren't for the two most forward manifold bolts (the two bolts only accessible through the wheel well) giving me such a hard time it would have taken me less than an hour I'm sure.

I was finally able to remove the EGR from the manifold... at the EGR side which is accessible through the engine bay once the intake was removed. This gave me a bit more flexibility when installing the somewhat fragile exhaust manifold gasket.

Once the gasket was in place it was simply a matter of re-installing everything. No matter what I did, for whatever reason, the two front bolts on the mani would not go in straight. I did eventually get them to go, but only after an hour or two of sweating, swearing and staring at the damn thing.

So now I'm on to bigger and better things. Next up is either the aluminum step side removal or rear AC removal. We'll see which looks like something I can tackle in one evening.
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Old 06-09-2011, 08:07 PM   #8
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

is the exhaust manifold attached to the head by stud and nut, or by bolt? I thought there were studs in the head.

I have a leak at passenger ex manifold on my '92 351W also.
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Old 06-09-2011, 09:12 PM   #9
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

Bolts.
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Old 06-09-2011, 11:11 PM   #10
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Re: 1993 Ford 5.8L Manifold Leak - Gasket Question

My '94 5.8L had studs and nuts.
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