hi all, just replaced my engine and found that on one of the cylinders, where the exhaust manifold meets the engine there is an air leak, which makes an obvious noise- i drained the coolant, got the downpipe off..nothing wrong with the downpipe itself. i checked the exhaust gasket and there is a very slight warp to one side of it (the leak was coming from that side of the pipe) however, i dont know how perfectly flat the gasket HAS to be. i thought i might tighten the bolts up much harder only to find that one of the bolts would not tighten (a thread problem in the actual engine casing), and would only hold the manifold in place. the leak comes from the same place..surely if it were down to how tight the exhaust was, then the leak would be all around the pipe? i am new to all this so excuse any obvious mistakes, thanks, matt.

new gaskets time and try not to snap the bolts if you go tightening them too much.

Welcome to the forum too..let us know how it goes :D

I have just replaced all my exhaust gaskets, studs and nuts, as i had a leaking exhaust too.

If there is a stud causing you problems try and get it out, if you can by welding a nut onto it and slackening it off, very gently, back and forth.

If you need new studs, go to David Silver spares.

I have part numbers if you want to get exact bits, but Keith there will sort you out.

The exhaust header needs to sit just right, or it will sit on the engine rather than the gasket and wont squash up correctly.

If you have no luck try Graham France on here, he may be able to offer some other options.