[Ibby730d]

Hello guys.

So.... some of you may know from my previous posts on the possibility of a cracked exhaust manifold that i may have..... well.... it aint! It turned out to be a cracked EGR pipe from the egr cooler to the manifold.

When i was installing the main stat, i moved the egr cooler out of the way like an idiot while its pipe was still screwed in and it wasn't by a bit either so i deffo must have caused the issue.

Bought an exhaust manifold for nothing. May be i should save it just in case the current manifold may crack which is a possibility according to research stats.

Anyways for those trying to install the main stat, just be careful with the egr cooler and dont try to move it out of the way while its pipe is still screwed into the manifold. The egr cooler i have is the one with the pipe welded as part of the cooler so i cant simply by the little pipe, have to buy the whole cooler.

Just a little update for you guys.

Thank you to those who have helped.

Cheers

Ibby.

 

[e61paul]

as forest gump said s--t happens
paul

 

[thanatoid]

Can't be complete 100% cos you spread the hard learned lesson among the Borg/BMW collective

 

[Richyroos]

You will need the manifold at some point - they all seem to crack!

 

[chr15gb]

I must admit when I changed my Main Stat I removed the EGR pipe from the manifold. I was amazed at how many people simply bend it out of the way.
It seemed a huge risk considering the effort required to remove the pipe.

I was also a 100% baffoon as I didn't think of removing the MAF/Turbo pipe to give access to the EGR cooler pipe at the manifold end so I faffed like an idiot with bluetack on the end of the socket to catch the bolts lol.

 

[edber]

The egr cooler pipe is a light gauge corrugated metal and wont take any stress.
I stupidly forgot to tighten the egr cooler bracket bolts on my e46 and the engine vibrations
cracked the pipe and then the escaping hot egr gasses burned a hole in the plastic maf pipe.
The car was barely drivable and I couldn't understand what the hell was going on(apart from the loudness of the engine) until I lifted the bonnet.
Then when I removed the undertray,here was the two bolts looking at me.
Lucky enough I have a doner car,so just replaced the parts.
Looks we all make silly mistakes lol.