406oc.co.uk

Hi all,

Has anyone experianced a blowing manifold from the gasket on the head? I've got this popping type noise from the manifold area/back of the engine. Seems to get worse with heat. It's a XU10J4R

Thanks,
Dan

Had similar issues with an XU9JA engine (1.9 8V GTi engine) and it was the manifold gaskets. Bit of a pig to do due to limited access for the spanners and sockets, but achieveable and not all that expensive for new gaskets either.

I'm just a little concerned about the studs/nuts... They look like crusty mothers. I think a big dose of WD40 is in order.

Dan

Yep, big dose of WD is highly recommended! Don't want any of those studs snapping in the head...

Oh thats made it even worse! I'll let you know how I get on....

Dan

Hi all,

Got round to changing the manifold gasket, what a pain in the arse! Its so tight behind there, you carn't even get the heat shield out. I had to undo the drivers side engine mount and undo the bottom mount to give more room at the back of the engine, even then it was tight. After having a hard time undoing the heatshield bolts, then the manifold nuts, a stud fell in the the manifold and ended up in the cat.... so the cat had to come off, even that gave me a hard time as the bolts were rounded off

The icing on the cake, it still makes that annoying noise! Arrgggh !

Any ideas what could be causing it? I replaced the fitting kit (wire gasket thing) and now the manifold gasket

Thanks,
Dan

It's strange, I thought I might have been the author of your last post. I replaced that compressed stainless thing with new springs and bolts about a year ago.[the kit] But of late it gets that leaking exhaust noise when under heavy acceleration and I wonder if that thing has chopped out again so soon.
Your thread fills me with dread, because I've had a leaking manifold problem on every Peugeot I've ever owned.[403, 404, 504, 505, 406]
I never sorted the 505 before it went to the great parts sorter in the sky. Heap of sh*t it was.
But the earlier ones got cracks in 'em which meant replacement, but as spares were easy to get and cheap it didn't matter in them days.
I'll be pissed off if I have to get a new manifold on the 406.

I had similar problems. Hope your manifold isn't cracked.

Did you check the manifold for cracks while you had it off?

Have you looked at the old gasket to see if there are telltale signs of a leak? (sooty marks leading to the outside edges of the gasket).

Yes, cracks as well.

Start up the car, use a thick rag to block off the tailpipe and listen for any hissing sound, if you have hissing sound, that's probably where the leak is, so trace it.

Did you use some sealing paste when you refitted everything?

Hi all,

I finally found out what the problem was.... Loose spark plugs Some muppet only tightened the plugs down till the washers came in contact with the head, rather than compressing the washer. Maybe I should of checked this to start with lol... but then again I didn't expect it to be that simple.

The manifold gasket was cracked so my efforts wasn't totally wasted, but it wasn't causing a notiable problem... nevermind

Dan

Nice one Dan, I had to do the same job on my 1.8 before it died, looking like the same problem on the tubby now as well
Who'd have thought loose spark plugs!

Pugly wrote:It's strange, I thought I might have been the author of your last post. I replaced that compressed stainless thing with new springs and bolts about a year ago.[the kit] But of late it gets that leaking exhaust noise when under heavy acceleration and I wonder if that thing has chopped out again so soon.
Your thread fills me with dread, because I've had a leaking manifold problem on every Peugeot I've ever owned.[403, 404, 504, 505, 406]
I never sorted the 505 before it went to the great parts sorter in the sky. Heap of sh*t it was.
But the earlier ones got cracks in 'em which meant replacement, but as spares were easy to get and cheap it didn't matter in them days.
I'll be pissed off if I have to get a new manifold on the 406.

I don't think they suffer on the 406 with cracking manifolds, If anything I'd say the gasket would be the first thing to check. The gasket on mine had cracked and you could see soot on the head from where it had leaked. There is a chance the kit you replaced has started to fail again, bit unlikely but possible. The manifold's are easy to pick up, but it will be a nightmare to get out if it's a 16v, you would have to move the whole engine forward (Undo all the mounts and support the engine) to give enough room to get the manifold out.

Regarding the tubby, I removed a engine from one a few weeks back and some of the studs/nuts had actually came loose and one fell out. It might be a case of them needing nipping up. A mate of mine replaced the gaskets on his tubby... a tad fiddly due to the lack of room.
Dan