Have a good read through this fairly extensive description of what is involved replacing n/s exhaust manifold gasket ...assuming you dont remove the heads or take engine out as the "book of liars" suggests.
Best of luck with it
PASSENGER SIDE EXHAUST MANIFOLD GASKET REPLACEMENT
Took 2 full days – mainly due to fiddly problems.
On the facelift 2.5 V6 it’s not essential to remove the engine or even to move the engine.
The job goes like this (sorry no pictures just needed to get it done).
Parts
Coolant transfer pipe O-rings x 2
Dipstick tube O-rings x 2 (cost about £3 each retail !)
Coolant
Exhaust downpipe nuts M10 x 2 90570845 approx £1.50 each (have helicoil insert)
Manifold gasket 24416110 £5.91
Manifold nuts x 7 11082413 £0.26 each (get a couple spare)
Manifold studs x 7 90106924 £0.45 each (get a couple spare)
Front pipe gasket 90499289 £4.55 each
Secondary Air Injection gaskets x 2 90467427 £0.40 each
Few M8 nuts (I think, check them on the new studs) to use to lock together to get studs in and studs out
Above prices maybe abit out of date now but part #,s are good
The job
Drain the coolant using red tap at bottom corner of radiator – note that this may not be required. Depends on how lucky you feel just rotating the coolant transfer pipe.
Jack up the passenger side front wheel.
Fit axle stand.
Remove passenger side front wheel (easier to get in and out from under car and allows access to one exhaust stud through hole in wheel arch).
Remove passenger side cat:
Undo the 16mm nuts connecting exhaust manifold to down pipe (long extension required). I’d recommend tapping the ratchet round with a hammer to reduce the chance of shearing the studs on the exhaust manifold.
Separate the cat from the mid box – these bolts will be solid. 13mm head. Grind off protruding thread to help undoing. Lots of penetrating oil. Tap ratchet with hammer to try to prevent shearing. If they do shear it’s not the end of the world. When the cat’s off drill out the bolt and when you put everything back together use a nut and bolt rather than bolting into the tapped part on the cat.
Undo the 13mm support bolt.
Catch the very heavy downpipe / cat.
Penetrating oil on all exhaust heat shield bolts.
4 bolts on top heat shield, one hidden one just about accessible from underneath.
2 bolts for lower heat shield.
Removed using E10 torx socket and 8mm ratchet ring spanner. Quite fiddly.
You might find one or two shear off, although none of mine did.
You can just about drag the top heatshield out of the way down past where the downpipe was fitted.
You do need it out of the way.
Ignition on, disconnect battery –ve
Remove +ve feed from battery (to give a little bit more room)
Lift cover for ECU box slide it up and out, partially lift out loom to engine (to get some extra room to work)
Undo and remove bracket holding PAS reservoir.
Unclip and remove bonnet switch.
Unclip wiring near PAS reservoir from stud on suspension turret.
Undo and remove bracket near dipstick holding earth wire and aircon pipe. You’ll need to unclip the earth wire.
Undo the Secondary Air Injection pipe at the hose end and at the two points where it goes into the exhaust manifold.
I couldn’t get the SAI pipe out so I left it in place and moved it around when required.
Undo the b*stard bolt holding the engine lifting bracket, coolant transfer pipe and dipstick in place. Make a note of where the spacer goes.
Rotate the lifting bracket and remove it. It has a L at the bottom which is why is doesn’t just slide out.
You need to rotate the coolant transfer pipe to allow the dipstick to be released. If you think the O-rings will keep their seal then there is no need to remove the coolant transfer pipe but really you should remove it and replace the O-rings once you’ve disturbed it.
Now you need to get the dipstick out. This is hard and took me a lot of time. At this point it “just pulls out”. I broke a nylon 500kg rope trying to “pull it out”. You need to pull in the right direction – roughly next to where the PAS reservoir sits is about right. Rotate the dipstick to loosen it, wiggle and pull. Pull, pull, pull. Mine came out mm by mm. I tried rope round the bracket on to a long bar that rested on a block of wood on the suspension turret. Got huge amount of leverage, which may have loosened it.
You have to get the dipstick out to gain access to one stud. I tried to work around it but you’ll never get the stud back in.
Undo the manifold studs. You’ll need a selection of ratchet extensions to get on to the studs. One can be accessed through a hole in the wheel arch.
Post 98 models should have the non-seize manifold nuts fitted
Make sure you get the most sturdy ratchet you can on and get the socket on square. The nuts are copper and easily round off. With a solid tug they’ll all undo. Generally the stud comes out of the block – which is very helpful.
I used ½” drive where possible to undo.
3/8” drive where I had to.
But for refitting a ¼” drive got you a long way.
If one shears the best option may be to live without it. On mine the rear most stud had sheared all on its own. Luckily there was a fair bit of stud left and it even had thread on it. To get it out I had to get a nut welded on. The heat from the welding probably helped to – but it was still very tight.
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