cracked exhaust manifold

[cafa]

Hi Guy's
I need some help,my T5 2006 multivan has cracked the exhaust manifold , I have purchased a cast replacement from the UK and it is supposed to fit all axe engines ..but the turbo will not fit back in...has anyone replaced their manifold with one of these cast UK manifolds.I am thinking that maybe in OZ we have different size Turbo's ,,,not sure .
The manufacturer saye he has sold over 1000 world wide with no problems......WTF
can anyone shed some light ...please
marc

[Sunny43.5]

There is a thread on the forum somewhere where some of the guys have just had them re welded , saves some money I suppose .

[cafa]

Yea I have read that ,but have been advised against that apparently it will only last about 40000ks and the weld can crack and bits end up in turbo.
what really gets me is that ..it is a VW problem they changed the manifold to a cast on in 2007
and if you contact any VW dealer they all have them in stock at $1100.....what a joke and when you ask them they say they have never heard of any issues with them.....WTF

[Rebuild]

Is the turbo physically incompatible with the manifold, or is it just fitting is awkward?

there is this,
Turbo squeal Cure! - The Brick-yard - Page 1

and near the bottom
"I came slightly unstuck by refitting the manifold first enjoying the nice easy access to the bolts. Embarrassed I had to take if off again because the turbo can't be fitted with manifold bolted up. But then you can't get the manifold in if you fit the turbo first. So sit the turbo (with its aluminium seal clipped in place on the bottom of turbo) on its three hole bracket but don't fit the bolts. Lay the turbo back slightly.
Fiddle the manifold in and bolt it up. Check the aligning of the ally seal and bolt the turbo in place."

There is this too, which may give some hints
How to remove turbo and dpf on 2.5 BNZ 130 - The Brick-yard - Page 1

[Sunny43.5]

Makes you wonder if the designers of these ever bothered to do a repair themselves in situ , so many examples of awkward placement of parts that will at some time need replacing in cars today . If you followed the manufacturers recommendations it probably tells you to remove the engine to do the job , yeah like who is going to spend that time and money for a replacement part that should be accessible in the first place .

[Umai Naa!!]

I've repaired a few of them, with no issues so far.

You can't re-weld them insitu, but even off the car, you need to make sure you clean any slag out of the runners, prior to re-installing.

As for the OP's issues, even the factory manifold needs to be installed loosely in some cases.

[Sunny43.5]

I didn't mean to actually weld it in place but I am sure you have encountered many times parts where placement is the pits to remove because of surrounding bits and pieces .

[cafa]

Hi Guy's
Thanks for the replies ,the manifold is from the UK I bought it off ebay from Kamil Rominski and I have spoken to him and he said he has sold over 1000 of them world wide but not to Australia and maybe we have a bigger turbo ..he is going to do some research..
but I think the only way will be to grind the bottom of the manifold to maybe give some room.
has anyone in OZ ever replaced their manifold with one of these cast ones...I spent hours yesterday with the mechanic who is fitting it and it looks nearly impossible. If you bolt he manifold up tight to the engine the turbo wont fit and if you loosen the manifold and lift it up you can get turbo in but you cant tighten two of the bottom manifold bolts.....
this is crazy surely someone has done this before because all of them will do it...shame on VW it is their problem as of 2007 they changed the manifold to a cast one......

[Umai Naa!!]

Turbo will be physically the same size across all respective engine codes for that engine type.

There are two nuts between the turbo and manifold that are tricky to access at the best of times, even with the standard manifold, however not impossible. I suspect that thecast manifold may be larger in size around that area, further hindering access to the nuts.

While the cast manifold on the later engines wasn't prone to cracking, the nuts were often under-torqued, resulting in exhaust leaks and blown manifold gaskets. Also, the EGR pipes on the later motor were prone to cracking as well.

[cafa]

Thanks, yea cast is fatter than standard manifold,have you ever fitted one of these..the guy who is doing mine is having trouble and recons will have to grind bottom of manifold where it sits on top of turbo...could you give some ideas Marc