Joined: Thu Nov 24 2005, 07:29PM
Location: So Cal.
Posts: 1111
My brother's girlfriend has this 4-cyl turbo NYer with a bad exhaust gasket. It looks like a total PITA to replace but she's offered to pay me to do it. The money would be nice but I'm wondering if it's really worth it. Can I get it done in an afternoon? Do I have to pull the intake off too?
With a perfect paint job and interior, the car is really way too nice otherwise. It was her grandmother's car and it spent all its life garaged and dealer maintained until she got it about a year or so ago.
Anybody's experience here would be helpful. Thanks!
In generally rust-free CA, the job shouldn't be too tough. Go to the dealership and get the MOPAR exhaust gasket kit, it will come with new bolts, springs, and the gasket. IIRC, the gasket is some sort of compressed foil gasket (it was on my Daytona, but it's a Turbo II). I don't think it's too expensive, but it may be $20-30. Remove two bolts, lower the down pipe, R&R the gasket, stick the down pipe back up to the turbo outlet, install the new bolts/springs, and snug back up. I'm not sure how tight it has to be, the springs keep the joint tight while letting the assembly rock forward and back with the engine. It's a flex joint. Should be a 2-3 hour job if you're lucky. You should bring the build date of the car to the dealer when you get the part, just in case there was a running change to the design. Happened a lot...
Joined: Sat Dec 10 2005, 04:28PM
Location: United States
Posts: 4954
Clare. . . If I remember right, the flange bolts you are talking about bottom out. If the ol' feeble memory serves me correct, they have a rather long shank to prevent over tightening
Joined: Sun Feb 05 2006, 11:51PM
Location: Pa
Posts: 3064
Soak all the bolts with PB B'laster a day or two before starting and you might not break anything! Seriously this stuff is a miracle worker. But be prepared to need the "hot wrench" when dealing with 20 year old exhaust. ps.- you'll probably get involved with replacing the rubber turbo hoses, wiring plugs, vac lines or anything else attached to the system that started life soft and is now rock-hard from the heat. <span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Thu Mar 30 2006, 08:36AM ]</span>
Ah, yes, good point Bob. Don't even TOUCH any of the plastic vacuum lines that are draped across the valve cover and run hither & yon through the engine compartment. Those things WILL break, and WILL make the car run like crap. And when they DO break, they'll be almost impossible to find... I don't even look crosswise at the lines under the hood of my Daytona...
The PepBoys here by me has a few spools of that plastic line, others may too. You can replace that brittle junk with rubber hose if need be. The only thing to be aware of is some of the junctions or fittings cast with those lines may contain a calibrated restriction. These need to be saved and put back in the vacuum circut. If you do go the rubber hose route, find the hose whose inside diameter is closest to that plastic line that you are replacing. As the inside diameter increases, so does the volume inside the line and therfore it will take longer for the the maximun vacuum signal to be generated in that line. On either side of the engine you will find connections in the wiring and vacuum harnesses to disconnect them from the engine. Start there if you need to disconnect the vacuum lines. With a little gentle persuasion they just might come apart.
Joined: Sun Feb 05 2006, 11:51PM
Location: Pa
Posts: 3064
Clair Davis wrote ... Ah, yes, good point Bob. Don't even TOUCH any of the plastic vacuum lines that are draped across the valve cover and run hither & yon through the engine compartment. Those things WILL break, and WILL make the car run like crap. And when they DO break, they'll be almost impossible to find... I don't even look crosswise at the lines under the hood of my Daytona...
Clair
Too late! I wish you could have told me a couple of years ago when I broke them on my GLH Turbo while doing the timing belt. Fortunately Mopar has a repair part - the junction where all the hard plastic hoses combine at the plug. I spliced this into my hoses with silicone aquarium air hose (still supple after all this time!) and covered the mess with convolute tubing in a size large enough to mask the lump. Works great!
Joined: Tue Mar 21 2006, 10:24AM
Location: Fresno, CA
Posts: 49
The exhaust manifold to head gaskets rarely go bad on the turbo cars, so are you sure that's the problem? We had an exhaust leak that I tried several times to fix on a TII Daytona. I finally gave up and took the car to a muffler shop. Before I could even get the car off the trailer he told me the cat was bad. That's the reason for the spring loaded downpipe bolts...............
Joined: Thu Nov 24 2005, 07:29PM
Location: So Cal.
Posts: 1111
Yeah, I'm sure it's the manifold to head gasket. The outermost bolt on the passenger's side was totally loose and I could stick a razor blade behind the manifold. I could also see where the gasket was sticking out past the manifold, and where it wasn't.
Thanks for the tips on the vacuum lines. If I do this job, I'll be sure to pay attention to them!