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Exhaust Manifold Leak

kthor7031

kthor7031

Go Kart Champion
Hey everyone,

Has anyone every had an exhaust manifold leak on their GTI? I have 38k and seem to have one. I tried a dealership and they said it would likely get denied due to my aftermarket mods. I can see where they are coming from but there are a lot of tuned GTIs and I have never seen this on the forums. Searching only brought up one youtube video and some other ones that seemed different to my case. I may have to eat this one but I wanted to hear what you guys think. An independent shop suggested I get the manifold "lightly machined" to rule out an uneven surface and not have to do it twice in the event it is slightly warped. Thank in advanced guys.
 
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simpson110

Ready to race!
How do you know it's leaking? It's a pretty hard area to see, and the manifold is cast with the turbine housing. No matter what it's a good amount of work to just replace the gasket.
 
kthor7031

kthor7031

Go Kart Champion
When the axle heat shield is removed, they were able to see soot marks. It was verified on a lift as well by via a stethoscope. Yea, it is likely a couple hours worth of labor:(
 
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simpson110

Ready to race!
Probably 6 hours labor to remove and reinstall for the gasket. Was the turbo ever removed before? If it was were the manifold nuts torqued properly? It's something like 1-3-5-4-2 in 3 steps but I can't remember the actual torque values.
 
kthor7031

kthor7031

Go Kart Champion
Does look to be around 6 hours. It has never been removed, unless it was for some reason before I bought it new.
 
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simpson110

Ready to race!
I did my ko4 and it was about 10 hours to remove and install the turbo. So I figure it should take the dealer or a good shop about 6 to do the same. It is an involved job.
 
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TheCastle

Ready to race!
kthor703 said:
Hey everyone,

Has anyone every had an exhaust manifold leak on their GTI? I have 38k and seem to have one. I tried a dealership and they said it would likely get denied due to my aftermarket mods. I can see where they are coming from but there are a lot of tuned GTIs and I have never seen this on the forums. Searching only brought up one youtube video and some other ones that seemed different to my case. I may have to eat this one but I wanted to hear what you guys think. An independent shop suggested I get the manifold "lightly machined" to rule out an uneven surface and not have to do it twice in the event it is slightly warped. Thank in advanced guys.
Click to expand...

I've never hear of an exhaust manifold leak yet on a factory installed turbo. I suppose anything is possible. what problems is the potential exhaust leak causing you? If the problems are minor I'd say live with it.

You might start with just retorqueing the bolts. There are also leak stop miracle pastes you could use. I'm just suggesting these if money is a major concern.

Are they really sure it's leaking? The soot isn't oil dripping on the manifold from something else?
 
Sebastian89

Sebastian89

Ready to race!
When I installed my k04 the number 2 stud broke, and it doesn't look like I have a leak still... curious if the manifold itself is warped on yours
 
kthor7031

kthor7031

Go Kart Champion
TheCastle said:
I've never hear of an exhaust manifold leak yet on a factory installed turbo. I suppose anything is possible. what problems is the potential exhaust leak causing you? If the problems are minor I'd say live with it.

You might start with just retorqueing the bolts. There are also leak stop miracle pastes you could use. I'm just suggesting these if money is a major concern.

Are they really sure it's leaking? The soot isn't oil dripping on the manifold from something else?
Click to expand...

Right now, the problems are a high pitch squeal under stock boost levels. It is also throwing some 02 sensor codes occasionally. The leak was verified by a stethoscope. I don't want to jump to conclusions about a warped manifold, but like you said, I have yet to really see this happen on our cars, especially on the stock turbo. I may try getting a new nut and re-torque the bolt. I have already tried tightening it and it came back fairly quick. Talk about k04 knocking on my door lol. :23:

Sebastian24 said:
When I installed my k04 the number 2 stud broke, and it doesn't look like I have a leak still... curious if the manifold itself is warped on yours
Click to expand...

I really hope not :mad0259:
 
Uberryan

Uberryan

Banned
Curious as to why at 38k on a 2012 in 2014, the dealer wouldn't pull and replace the turbo under PT. The turbo is covered, as well as the manifold. His mods wouldn't degrade the manifold seals or warp the cast to cause a leak, and I assume this is on the stock turbo as well, even though he has a K04 now. Pretty ridiculous, should've easily been covered.
 
mto386

mto386

Go Kart Newbie
FocalPoint said:
Curious as to why at 38k on a 2012 in 2014, the dealer wouldn't pull and replace the turbo under PT. The turbo is covered, as well as the manifold. His mods wouldn't degrade the manifold seals or warp the cast to cause a leak, and I assume this is on the stock turbo as well, even though he has a K04 now. Pretty ridiculous, should've easily been covered.
Click to expand...

The dealer and VOA told me that the manifold gasket and manifold stud were not covered. They looked in their little warranty book and said sorry not covered and we're not helping you. My manifold was warped too and they blamed it on the stud snapping.
 
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kthor7031

kthor7031

Go Kart Champion
Yea, I'm pretty sure the cause was a blown out gasket or failed hardware. I got tired of fighting it and had an out that I was going to pursue anyway (k04). I wasn't able to confirm if the manifold was warped or not.
 
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steve9842015

Passed Driver's Ed
Any vid of the high pitch noise? Curious to hear.

When I did the k04 install the furthest left stud had already been broken. Went ahead with the install (didn't want to deal with that headache at that point) and haven't seen any sign of a leak as of 3k miles so far.
 
sauceman101

sauceman101

Ready to race!
steve9842015 said:
Any vid of the high pitch noise? Curious to hear.

When I did the k04 install the furthest left stud had already been broken. Went ahead with the install (didn't want to deal with that headache at that point) and haven't seen any sign of a leak as of 3k miles so far.
Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkGqvtZBaac&feature=youtu.be

Can only hear it from approximately 0:06 to 0:08 in this video from outside the car, as it's a noise that comes and goes. Mine was getting to the point where the noise was constant and would increase with throttle and boost
 
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