D3 Exhaust crossover pipe

[Iain_B]

After a whole day of work, I have managed to get the exhaust crossover pipe out to my wife's D3. It is a real battle, but possible. The drivers side flex joint had cracked. Now I just need to decided whether to get a new one or get the flex joints replaced on this one.

In case you are wondering, the symptoms were excessive black smoke when accelerating, lack of power off the line and an increase in fuel consumption. Then we started to hear the exhaust get louder and when I jacked it up, there was black soot over the back of the engine and I could feel the exhaust gas escaping out the bellows.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/


https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/14424726_337566683242973_7635847319306199356_o.jpg


https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t31.0-8/14424759_337566666576308_7453609396500313445_o.jpg


I think getting it off was the easy part, getting it back on again, that's going to be difficult.

[rangieman]

Id be looking at a Exhaust place and source their flex joints which would be better quality than the standard imo but maybe slightly bigger ;)
http://www.lltek.com/images/exhaust/BR_A6_S6_Flex_exhaust_detail_Z.jpg

[Iain_B]

That's what I was thinking about, and maybe adding a pair of V bands if they can fit them in, it would make it easier to fit.

[LandyAndy]

You should have thrown the lot out and put a Tombie system in:):):):):)
Who let the cats out????
Can you supply systems BFG or was yours a one off????
Andrew

[Iain_B]

I'd love to respond Andrew but I have no idea what you are asking :)

[sheerluck]

I'd love to respond Andrew but I have no idea what you are asking :)

I reckon Andrew thinks it's a true part of the exhaust system, rather than just a pipe linking one bank to the other. :D

[Russrobe]

While that exhaust is off you should swap it for a twin 3inch straight through in other words...

[Graeme]

If the flange angles aren't perfectly aligned or the length not near enough to the original then refitting a repaired pipe might not be possible.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Aftermarket bellows are the same, they only have a braided cover over them to make them look pretty. They still crack.

[Tombie]

While that exhaust is off you should swap it for a twin 3inch straight through in other words...



Twin 3" would be a complete waste of time [emoji41]

[Iain_B]

Got the crossover pipe back from the exhaust shop on Tuesday, but had to wait for the new studs, nuts and gaskets etc from Land Rover it took, two days to get them from Melbourne, none of the dealers had stock in Brisbane.

I got the cross pipe over in this afternoon, but it didn't fit, at least 5mm too short on the drivers side and about 5 degrees out, no way I could get it over the studs and one stud fits in the flange on the crossover pipe making it more difficult. The bellows must had been a bit compressed when they made the jig at the exhaust shop. I had to cut off one of the flex joints and and re-weld it. It took a few goes, cut, fit up, mark, , tack weld, re-fitted until I got it lined up, with a bit of tension so that when it heats up it will be uneder less strees. It took a couple of goes to get it to fit properly. In hindsight I should have just bought the couplings myself and welded them together, would have saved $100. The elbows either side are pretty thick, so easy to weld.

Getting the cross over pipe back over the gearbox is very tricky, at one stage it got stuck and it took me an hour to get it free again. I found I needed to raise or lower the back of the transmission until there is just enough space. I had re-used the heat insulating sleeve one the first attempt, getting it stuck meant I had rip the heat insulation, so now I have to get some exhaust wrap tape tomorrow and then I'll be able to put it all back together.

This is not something I would recommend trying unless you have a fair bit of patience, can weld and a good tool set, especially a fine tooth ratchet for the 8mm/10mm and 13mm nuts, some long extensions and swivel joints and you definitely need some ratchet spanners, just no way of getting to some of the nuts on the crossover with out them. You have to take off a lot of things just to get to the various nuts. The EGR valve, the whole exhaust system, loads of heat shields, fuel coolers, cross member etc.

Whilst I had it all off I fitted silicone turbo hoses, you need almost all the above stuff off just to get to the small hose on the turbo.

Now that I know what to do, I think I could get it on and off in about 10 hours, and any exhaust shop could supply the flex joints so it would be possible to do out in the bush, just not easy.

[Iain_B]

I got the crossover pipe back in, with some new heat shield tape. It's a really tight fit. All the bits and pieces I had to take off are back on, by comparison, getting them off was easy. All I have left to do is re-fit the jigsaw puzzle of heat shield in the LH wheel arch area, fit the gearbox cross member, refit the battery box and battery etc and then start if up. I have a few photos, and will post the later. All up the repair cost me $350, but it will take a while for the numerous scrapes and cuts to heal :o

[sheerluck]

How long has it taken you in total Iain?

[Iain_B]

Not really sure, I have lots of other distraction and would walk away when I got frustrated but I'm guessing about 6 hours getting the pipe off. 3 hours getting it to fit (cutting and rewelding) and another 6 putting it back together. A lot of the time is taken by trying to find a way to get to the various bolts, trying all sorts of thing until I eventually figure out how to do it.

For example, when getting to the three bolts on the passenger side, the write up on the D3 site says you can get them without removing the exhaust. I tried for an hour to get to them, but then gave up and removed the exhaust for the turbo back and that makes it easy. It took me a while to figure out how to get the crossover pipe back over the gearbox, and I got it stuck for over an hour, until I figured out you need to raise the transmission a bit to open up the space behind the engine. Similarly you need to move the fuel filter to get to the ones on the drivers side to be able to twist the crossover pipe the right way to get it over the transmission.

If you bought a new pipe, then a lot of the problems I had would go away, the new flex joints on mine are a stiffer, but now that I know how to do it, I'd guess around 8 hours all up.

I'd start with removing the exhaust, that makes it a lot easier to get to some of the heat shields and the EGR valve/cooler. I would also get a plate made up to blank off the EGR cooler on the back of the exhaust manifold so that when it is off, I would not have to put it back on, as that is very hard to do.

One more thing I would do is wash the underside of the car, especially around the back of the engine, the black soot is everywhere and you get covered in it.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

In hindsight, would it have not been easier to undo the body bolts and raise the body a couple of inches?

[Iain_B]

I did think about it when the pipe got stuck, was just going to raise it about 20mm to get it free. Never raised the body before, seemed like quite a bit of work to do it and at the time my big jack stands were holding up my Unimog :)

To make a difference the body would need to go up about 200-300mm to get access to the all the bolts.

[Iain_B]

Everything is back together, and I took the opportunity to fit the silicone turbo hose, the GOE height adjusters and painted our 18" wheels and fitted them. The car is a lot quieter now, at least the exhaust noise has gone, the Goodyear Duratrac tyres are a bit nosier than the Cooper HT we had on the 20" wheels, but they are a much more aggressive, closer to an MT than an AT.

The heat shields are quiet a jigsaw puzzle, but with the help of the photos I took before I managed to get them all to fit. Good news is that apart from the various nuts and bolts I replaced, there are no spare parts :)

Here are a few photos of the more difficult things.

These one you can get after removing the fuel filter. The hard one if the nut on the inside of the flange, flex head ratchet ring spanner is the only way to get it.

114874

The EGR cooler needs to come off the EGR valve in order to get it out. The bolts at the back of the EGR cooler are pretty difficult to get to.

114875

These two bolts are only possible to get to after removing the exhaust from the turbo. The top one is accessible from the wheel arch, once you have taken off the heat shield on top of it. To do that you need to remove the pipe from the back of the EGR cooler and the EGR cooler itself.

114876

[Russrobe]

You're brave from attempting this Iain! I was reading another thread on Disco3 yesterday and it's a mission of a job!

Does anyone have an idea of where I need to look for bolts missing from when the transmission is rebuilt?

I remember getting a message after mentioning it being done, which was deleted in the site changeover.

The most common cause for this crossover pipe was bolts being left out when the trans is dropped out.

I can drop the protection plate and have a look as someone advised me to do months ago, but without knowing where to look for missing bolts it's probably a waste of time.


Cheers

[Russrobe]

Looking at the old crossover, looks like only the 2 brackets will try find them.