Intake Manifold Leak (1.0, 12V)

September 11, 2012

Hi all,

Have you mates by any chance noticed any leak from underneath the intake manifold? One day I noticed the starter being covered by oily substance. So I took a closer look all around and it occurred the substance drops down from the inlet manifold. I examined the manifold thoroughly and the leak occurred in the spot where it is attached to the head by a bolt. The photos below show exactly this spot:

Have you mates experienced such a leak? Anyway, I bought a gasket made by Elring 290.930 (PEUGEOT OEM No: 0348.S4) and was going to handle this issue.

I had been watching the leak for a few weeks, each time cleansing it, so as to see the exact point of the leak. So I was sure it was the manifold gasket. The area around the rocker cover gasket was absolutely dry and clean. The whole engine at the back was dry and clean. It was only the starter that was filthy, as it is right beneath the manifold gasket.

And the oily substance in the intake manifold comes from the recirculation pipe marked here:

This picture shows clearly how the yellow drop fell straight onto the pink starter:

So, having removed the inlet manifold, it occurred I was right. The leak developed through the deformed gasket around one of the ports.

That’s my manifold after the removal. I marked oily spots.

And that’s the head:

So as to get to the manifold, we need to remove the scuttle panel, and this, in turn, must be preceded by the windscreen arm removal. We will need an arm removal tool.

1. So first, we undo a 12mm nut from the windscreen arm and we remove the thick arm. There will be one more thinner arm which we just pull up.

2. We remove the plastic scuttle panel. It is fixed by two plastic rivets only. Once we take it off, we see a metal scuttle panel fixed by 10 ten mm bolts. One bolt is under the motor, so we need to remove it too by unscrewing two 10 mm nuts. All the bolts and nuts are marked here:

4. To get to one of the manifold bolts, we need to remove the throttle. First we unfasten the accelerator cable (No 6 and 7 in the pict), undo two electircal cables (No 4 and 5) and unscrew 3 ten-mm bolts (No 1, 2, 3)

5. Then we unfasten passage No 8, which goes up to the rocker cover. This is a recirculation passage and this is responsible for the oil getting to the manifold. Next, undo the electrical cable No 9 from the MAP sensor and two passages on the right (10 and 11):

6. Undo the bracket beneath the manifold (No 12):

7. So, now we can remove the manifold itself. Bolts No 13 and 15 are easily accessible. No 14 bolt was first obscured by the throttle, and now by a bracket whose aim is to hold electrical cables. We need to undo it. No 16 is a great surprise as it is not visible at all. There is a passage right through the manifold and we need a 12 mm socket with extension to get to it.

8. We take out the manifold, give it a clean and put a new gasket into a groove. It fits there nicely. Some mates suggested applying Hylomar too, but there is just no room for it. The gasket protrudes around 2mm and then it is pressed against the head. This pict shows the protruding gasket.

Costs? 6 quid for the gasket…and the dealer quoted me 50 quid for this repair.