up-pipe gaskets?

[Banshee365]

Just finished an oil cooler rebuild, bulletproof EGR cooler, STC upgrade, and fuel pressure regulator kit on my buddies truck. It was going so smooth up until we cranked it up. It took a minute or so of cranking to refill the oil in the valley and build pressure but it finally cranked up. There was a loud hissing noise and after feeling around the turbo it appeared to be coming through the v-band clamp on the y-pipe. I removed the drivers side up-pipe bolts from the manifold to align the y-pipe to the turbo but I guess I didn't do a good enough job. The bolts were very rusty and both broke while trying to remove them on the drivers side. I didn't both with the pass. side for 2 reasons. One being that each nut is $8 and each bolt is like $3 or so. The other reason is that I figure the up-pipe is clamped to the EGR cooler so loosening that up-pipe at the manifold probably wouldn't allow it to move much anyways. I need to align the y-pipe to turbo conneciton again and need to remove the driver side up-pipe bolts again one last time.

Does this connection have a gasket and does it have to be replaced each time it loosened to align the up-pipe. I think one mistake I made during the job was bolting the turbo down before aligning the y-pipe. If I align the y-pipe, down-pipe, then bolt down the turbo I may be more successful. Any other bits of advice. I want to make sure the exhaust system is all tight this next time around and want to make sure up-pipe gaskets of any sort need to be replaced or not. Thanks!

[dhanna6powerstroke]

Originally Posted by Banshee365

Just finished an oil cooler rebuild, bulletproof EGR cooler, STC upgrade, and fuel pressure regulator kit on my buddies truck. It was going so smooth up until we cranked it up. It took a minute or so of cranking to refill the oil in the valley and build pressure but it finally cranked up. There was a loud hissing noise and after feeling around the turbo it appeared to be coming through the v-band clamp on the y-pipe. I removed the drivers side up-pipe bolts from the manifold to align the y-pipe to the turbo but I guess I didn't do a good enough job. The bolts were very rusty and both broke while trying to remove them on the drivers side. I didn't both with the pass. side for 2 reasons. One being that each nut is $8 and each bolt is like $3 or so. The other reason is that I figure the up-pipe is clamped to the EGR cooler so loosening that up-pipe at the manifold probably wouldn't allow it to move much anyways. I need to align the y-pipe to turbo conneciton again and need to remove the driver side up-pipe bolts again one last time.

Does this connection have a gasket and does it have to be replaced each time it loosened to align the up-pipe. I think one mistake I made during the job was bolting the turbo down before aligning the y-pipe. If I align the y-pipe, down-pipe, then bolt down the turbo I may be more successful. Any other bits of advice. I want to make sure the exhaust system is all tight this next time around and want to make sure up-pipe gaskets of any sort need to be replaced or not. Thanks!

You can stretch that clamp that connects the "y" pipe to the turbo. ( I have done it ) My suggestion is to buy a new v-band clamp and then loosen the turbo mountin bolts. Install new clamp and then tighten the bolts back up. Hope that helps some.

[Banshee365]

dhanna, thx for the response. I was just about to get on and answer my own quesiton after several pages of google searching. I came across a diagram of parts and there are no gaskets on the manifold-uppipe conneciton. It is a ball and socket design.

I am also somewhat concerned about the band having stretched. I'm not sure on the exact torque that the clamp should be tightened to. I may have over tightened it the first time as the part of the clamp that the hammer type head of the bolts hooks into is a bit warped and disfigured. It still has plenty to hold on to but it doesn't look like it would as new.

I'm thinking the indexing on the y-pipe to turbo connection is just as important as over the overall alignment. Especially when it comes to the lifespan of the flex pipe. If your tilt your turbo up a bit from the mount to get the flanges to line up and tighten the clamp down at that point, it would probably put a bit of a torsion on the flex that could cause it to fail prematurely (if there is such a thing on that flex section.) I'm going to try to find the ammount of clamping pretty that will hold the sections together evenly but loose enough to allow the mating surfaces to rotate within eachother enough to relieve any torsion. Is that going to be possible or am I just going to have to take what I can get.

[dhanna6powerstroke]

Originally Posted by Banshee365

dhanna, thx for the response. I was just about to get on and answer my own quesiton after several pages of google searching. I came across a diagram of parts and there are no gaskets on the manifold-uppipe conneciton. It is a ball and socket design.

I am also somewhat concerned about the band having stretched. I'm not sure on the exact torque that the clamp should be tightened to. I may have over tightened it the first time as the part of the clamp that the hammer type head of the bolts hooks into is a bit warped and disfigured. It still has plenty to hold on to but it doesn't look like it would as new.

I'm thinking the indexing on the y-pipe to turbo connection is just as important as over the overall alignment. Especially when it comes to the lifespan of the flex pipe. If your tilt your turbo up a bit from the mount to get the flanges to line up and tighten the clamp down at that point, it would probably put a bit of a torsion on the flex that could cause it to fail prematurely (if there is such a thing on that flex section.) I'm going to try to find the ammount of clamping pretty that will hold the sections together evenly but loose enough to allow the mating surfaces to rotate within eachother enough to relieve any torsion. Is that going to be possible or am I just going to have to take what I can get.

I had a leak and a noise in mine when I did the turbo the 2nd time. (I had reused the same v-band clamp.) You really can't index the pipe. Just loosen up your turbo bolts, and downpipe clamp, (I forgot to mention that earlier.), and install the new v-band clamp. Tighten the "y" pipe, the downpipe and then tighten the turbo bolts. Should be good to go.