Uppipe to header leak solution

I've been dealing with the infamous uppipe to header leak for a couple months now. After swapping uppipes twice and using grimspeed's 2x thickness the leak saw still there. So finally I dropped the headers to try and get everything to seat properly. Unfortunately, I found that my header flanges were warped which left a gap too large for a gasket to fill. I assume over 15 years and thousands of heating a cooling cycles caused the stock uppipe and header warped at the same rate. But, once swapped with a smoother flange they no longer lined up.

 

So, I spent the morning sanding the flanges flat with a hand sander and a section of glass. You can see in one of the photos the wear shows that the flange is curved quite a bit. In the end I got them to seat and wanted to share in case anyone is having a similar issue.

 

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Did this make a ticking kinda sound during acceleration? How did you know it was leaking? I ask because I am getting a strange noise like a header leak and I am trying to figure it out.

Did this make a ticking kinda sound during acceleration? How did you know it was leaking? I ask because I am getting a strange noise like a header leak and I am trying to figure it out.

Yeah it sounded like a ticking anytime the car was trying to go into boost. After I did this I used some gaskets I had laying around and they of course leaked alot. But yeah when the pre-turbo leaks it a definitley a sort of ticking sounds. I also knew because when I accelerated I could smell exhaust pretty bad but that turned out to be my downpipe which I have yet to fix.

 

The easiest way to find leaks is to get a shopvac to blow into one side of your exhaust and plug the other side with some old rags. Once you can tell its putting pressure on your exhaust you can go around with a spray bottle filled with soapy water and you'll see bubbles on the joints that are leaking

 

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Sanding all the flanges made my uppipe seal though it just took far too much time. If you have a belt sander that would be ideal

 

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little dab of fujibond would have done it too...

Tried a similar sealant and grimspeeds 2x thickness gasket. Laying flat, the flanges had too large of a gap to seal properly

 

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I wonder if this would throw a PO244 code? That happened yesterday.

I wonder if this would throw a PO244 code? That happened yesterday.

I believe that's the boost solenoid. I'm not sure the logic behind the code but usually solenoids will throw codes if they are sticking or not operating properly. I don't think an exhaust leak would cause that code. If anything you could get a bank too rich because the turbo would not spool up but even with sizable leaks I could get pretty close to the target boost.

 

I would check the wastegate lines and if they look fine put the car in test mode to see if its actuating properly.

 

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Edited May 2, 2020 by dwmccauley01

I installed a Prodrive EBCS and it is working well. All lines are new. I took it to my tuner yesterday and sorted some ping issues so now it’s running well. I will try your Shopvac idea, if only my car wasn’t so low.

I used 2 grimmspeed gaskets. No issues

 

 

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