Cheap ebay manifolds + exhaust = TICKING

So i'm getting slightly fed up. Bought a switchable cheap exhaust off ebay and Toyosport manifolds. Despite several visits it's TICKING like a bitch under load from the left side.. both exhaust and manifold manufacturers blame themselves... I'm starting to think I should've left it alone! close to £1.5k later and i have a ticking car .. buy cheap buy twice :x :x :x :x :x In other words - don't buy the cheap stuff, save more money and save the headache.

What do you mean by ticking?? I've seen motorbike systems make noise between spring connected parts as bits of exhaust gas escapes. Not a blow but an odd noise that maybe like ticking. It's not a leak therefore is it??

Ticking is usually due to the manifold leaking not the system, I have diagnosed cars where people had a ticking thinking their engine was at fault but its only been the manifold leaking slightly.

Sounds like someone's not installed it correctly. :dont know:

it's ticking under load, so maybe because engine is moving (RSS mounts), also a pain to diagnose on the ramps; where do they leak most commonly from? no signs visually

Engine can move all it wants, that doesn't matter as all the exhaust components are bolted direct to the engine and nothing else (unlike most other cars). Also, leak points will be where any gaskets are.

Thanks. I might just have a crack at replacing them. I think the original from the cheap kit were used.

I think (although n is small) that we may hear of an increasing number of this type of "ticking noise help" thread - which is caused by the exhaust manifold mating surface corroding due to it's position under the engine and road salt (if I had to guess at a cause). The original style gaskets do a much better job of sealing than the newer style ones - I was lucky that Precision managed to source some, when I had this issue, as my heads are lightly corroded and would not seal with the newer style gaskets. Depending on how bad the corrosion is you may need to get the surface of the heads machined flat, fingers crossed some better gaskets do the trick.

I have some stainless shim type gaskets from OPC - are these new or old type and what is the other version?

I have zero experience of water cooled Porsches, though did drive a 944 for a week or so.. (-: cvega, sorry to read of your issue though buying cheap can be the smart option on occasion, thinking buying parts that come in Porsche packaging while they are manufactured by others, i.e. Bosch, SKF, etc. etc. etc. However I do remember quite some time back when Porsche put out warnings on FAKE pats showing an x-ray image of a wheel casting that was obviously flawed, thus buying cheap parts that "look" OK can cause problems, more so when one may not have x-ray vision or has experience enough to determine fake from original, or engineering experience enough to judge the quality of what`s on offer.... Even engineers can get duped. As for buying off fleabay... who knows what you might be buying there..??? Ticking...? That used to be a sign of a hard pressed alloy engine cooling down when parked up the ticking being down to the differential coefficient of expansion in the materials used usually exhaust manifold to cylinder head and the likes, though in more modern vehicles they sorted that out by selecting better material matching.. Could be that under sudden and heavier loading you are generating a lot more heat and causing things to expand more.. Dammit... jeez, getting the heads machined would seem a rather expensive way to go with who knows what else might be disturbed/found in a strip down process..? Perhaps an alternative slightly thicker more compliant gasket material could be utilised, you can even buy the stuff in A4 sized sheets and make your own. A quick interweb search and I found this vid, sure he rabbits on a bit but it is the same method I was taught by a ships engineer who had to make his own gaskets for everything while at sea and not all out of material as thin as that in the vid :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAS8mpXVLOg Of course there are folk who will make gaskets for you to any shape size or thickness https://dir.indiamart.com/indianexporters/gaskets.html http://www.klinger.co.uk/products/jointing-materials/high-temperatures https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAD-GASKET-AND-MANIFOLD-MATERIAL-A4-SHEET-SIZE-X-2-/230701954075 Just thinking in type... :?:

There's no evidence whatsoever that this problem is down to buying cheap parts. There's also many options to resolve mating faces and gaskets not sealing. Only issue I see here is finding out what the problem is. Might not even be related to the exhaust :dont know:

Was assembly paste used when fitting the gaskets, I always use it when fitting exhaust parts together, it just takes up any imperfections in the system? I would just get a pair of new gaskets and fit them with some paste.

The problem with copy parts is that they are not 1st generation design manufacture, but often 2nd or 3rd generation copies where the build up of tolerances means that fits aren't good. In addition the engineering often means the flat faces aren't the right standard so have to be made to fit in some way as has been suggested by specific gaskets or paste. Are you sure there is a leak causing the ticking, or is it a pinging sound? When I replaced a manifold a long time ago on an old Capri, it was a copy part and I think the material was either a strange spec or the material thin. It made a pinging / ticking noise when under load as you describe - OK for a Capri, but not a good sound for a Porsche. I must say it settled down a bit when the metal presumably went through a number of heat cycles, or some of the exhaust products coated the interior. However, I was never fully satisfied and replaced it later with a salvaged part.

The ticking sound wasn't there until manifolds were replaced.. it's coming from left hand side only. I dont know whether paste was used, but I'll try to find out. I'm considering buying original porsche gaskets and starting there.

Identify the fault 1st.