Join Our Ford Truck Forum Today

Document your Ford truck project here and inspire others! Login/Register to view the site with fewer ads.

Straight 6 Exhaust Leak

Kaajot

Micro Machine Manager
Hi everyone-

I'll have pictures tomorrow -- mechanic finished up the last of the work on Red IX while I was working on schoolwork and my chicken farm with my father. ANYWAY, even though we redid the seal to the manifold with a new gasket, no double-bubble sandwich (two gaskets), and with a new manifold, there's still a small leak near the front and the back.

Anyone ever had that kind of a problem? Hopefully the mechanic has not thrown away the double-bubble gaskets we removed so I can take pictures with the evidence of the two leaks for a better representation of where the compression is pushing out.

Still expecting better mileage as we had a defective smog air pump and the wrong size injectors in, so all of that is cleaned up too and replaced with a new pump and the right-sized (13-15 pph) injectors.

-KJ
 

O'Rattlecan

Redneck Prognosticator
26,687
797
Belton, MO
Sometimes the engine warms, and you have to go back and retorque them because they back out on the first try.

Check that out and see if anything changes.

Ryan
 

Kaajot

Micro Machine Manager
Sometimes the engine warms, and you have to go back and retorque them because they back out on the first try.

Check that out and see if anything changes.

Ryan

Thanks Ryan, we'll do try that out! I drove it about 20 miles yesterday since it came out of the shop, NO check engine light (should have seen it two or three times). And it's not burning 5-7 mpg, hoping we're back to the 16-22 range. And it has a little more power on command at the throttle, so all things are looking good.

I did the math and the wrong-sized injectors equated an additional 18-24 additional pound per hour or 2-3 gallons more per hour. That certainly was one factor, but the smog air pump was probably the #1 culprit in loss of power and economy near the end as it got down to 5-7 mpg. Was hovering in the 10-15 for awhile before December.

Going to take the truck in for a wash on the next day and get these pics up finally. The engine bay is getting impressive.
 

Kaajot

Micro Machine Manager
Sometimes the engine warms, and you have to go back and retorque them because they back out on the first try.

Check that out and see if anything changes.

Ryan

Update: We tried that, but wound up last month just pulling the whole thing apart, got a new seal in there, and tightened it down good n tight.

Now, all is well and no oil or any exhaust leaks. Performance and mileage have improved drastically finally and I'm not buying a gallon of oil every 2 weeks, plus the engine bay is clean.
 

Ford Truck Articles

Top