Blown gasket

[PAT]

Blew my third up pipe gasket today while gunning it trying to catch a yellow light. It's a little bitter sweet. Could have been a worse gasket to blow... But it could have at least been the drivers side up pipe lol now I have to remove the giant down pipe to get to the gasket. Not to mention those 3 pesky bolts.

Is there a better gasket to be had other than OEM? This gasket only lasted me about 5k miles before it gave out. Could something else be factoring into the failing of my gaskets? Perhaps the up pipe wasn't bolted down evenly?

Any thoughts?

Someone at Socal diesel trucks recommended using a companies gasket that makes custom gaskets out of mesh graphite. Supposedly they withstand heat better and last much longer than the 3 layered steel crush gaskets.
Here is their link.
http://www.gasketing.net/flexible_graphite.htm

 

[paint94979]

Stock uppipes? Are you installing the gasket correctly? I have never heard of anyone having issues with stock gaskets.

 

[TrentNell]

Rick has some solid copper gaskets , price is good also , I would also question why your having gaskets blow out, I still use the OEM gaskets on my race truck and havent lost one ever due to HP , but have from the bolts coming loose or a warped flange .

 

[MACKIN]

The only place I could think of would be these guys. http://www.cometic.com/gaskethome.aspx

Maybe they could make you one.

 

[Chevy1925]

bolts coming loose or a warped flange .

i would be looking at this before determinding its a gasket issue.

 

[Dan@PPE]

Something is not right! I have NEVER seen a stock gasket blow on stock mani/uppipes.... Gimme a call for a sweet deal on high performance mani and uppipes!:hug:

 

[Dirtymaxx03]

i bet you forgot to torque the bolts properly the first time and that allowed the flange to warp. that would cause all the failures

 

[PAT]

After i installed the turbo, I somehow managedto mess up the threads on the pedestal. I got sick of messing with it and took it to guy. He pulled it and re tapped the threads. With that said..: I didn't bolt the up pipe on.

Dan... I may try ur option lol

 

[PAT]

Also, I've yet to tear it apart. I diagnosed the gasket in the parking lot of buffalo wild wings. I had a buddy bring up the rpms while I had my hand near the gasket. I could feel the exhaust gas coming out. However, It could be a cracked bellow. In which case that would suck. I just had to buy a cp3. So putting down the coin for new manis and up pipes would be a shitty deal. Owell.

I'll tear into it later today after work. I'll post up anything that I find.

 

[PAT]

Well... Here's an update. I took the downpipe out today. Stuck a light in there to take a look at what I thought was the 2nd possibility of the leak. Guess what, cracked bellow.

So I'm on my way to get an LB7 up pipe. The LLY pipe cracked at the portion that goes up to the EGR. Pretty sucky situation. I don't have a welder either. Or I would just weld a cap onto the up pipe and take that bellow off completely.