New Exhaust & Blown Valve Gasket?

DallasHead · Post by **DallasHead** » Tue May 14, 2002 3:40 pm

I recently had a new exhaust system (Dual tip monza style)installed on my bus and after five minutes on the highway I had a backfire and smoke galore. My mechanic said that a valve cover gasket failed and spewed oil everywhere causing the smoke. I feel lucky that I didn't have a major engine fire. My old exhaust was rusty and a bit loud, but I never had that problem before. Would a new tighter exhaust system cause increased pressure around the valve covers or am I being fooled by something else? Also, when I left the shop, my new muffs were jet black and after the failure they are white and it looks as if the all of the black paint paint burnt off. Is this normal or should they remain black for a while? I forgot to mention that new heater boxes were installed along with the muffs and these were basically non existent before. Please help !!!

[This message has been edited by DallasHead (edited 05-14-2002).]

mnsKmobi · Post by **mnsKmobi** » Tue May 14, 2002 4:41 pm

Being a cynical type, I would immediately suspect that the valve cover gasket "failure" was caused by the valve cover being knocked during the exhaust installation rather than something caused by the exhaust itself. Unless your rings have failed, the exhaust shouldn't be getting into the oil to any great extent. As for the paint, I have not had direct experience but have read posts from others with the same problem - paint burns off on first trip.

DallasHead · Post by **DallasHead** » Tue May 14, 2002 7:58 pm

What about switching from a rusty muffler that surely had some leaks, to a nice tight one like I have now. If the gaskets were already weak for whatever reason, could the new exhaust be the "Straw that broke the camel's back"? A friend of mine mentioned something about increased back pressure could cause this.

62T2Doood · Post by **62T2Doood** » Tue May 14, 2002 10:54 pm

The gasket blowing off more likely had to do with the gasket than the muffler.

Also if your timing was way off or something, it could have caused a cylindar to pre-fire. If your engine is not balanced it will have more back pressure on one side than the other. Was it the valve cover that covers your #3 ?

Be sure also, to check your valve cover clips to make sure they are seating the covers right. You may need new clips or covers, you don't want this to happen again.

As far as the discolorization of the muffler, that could have something to do w/ the oil burning off of it. If you want it black again there are many kinds of high temp paint you can use to re paint it.

IMPORTANT !!! <----- if you don't own a fire extinguisher, buy one today and put it in your bus.

Something like 60-75% of busses end up having engine fires. If you don't have an extinguisher, you don't love your VW.

........my 2 cents ;^)

------------------
Bryan...St.Petersburg, FL
'62 11W Kombi ;^) "Monie"
'72 Beetle "Punchy"

[This message has been edited by 62T2Doood (edited 05-15-2002).]

DallasHead · Post by **DallasHead** » Wed May 15, 2002 8:14 am

Thanks friends.

Derek May · Post by **Derek May** » Wed May 15, 2002 9:24 pm

If you are concerned about fires, change all your fuel lines every couple of years...

62T2Doood · Post by **62T2Doood** » Thu May 16, 2002 12:12 am

And carry a fire extinguisher ! ;^)

They only cost like 15 bucks at sears, that's some cheap insurance man.

It's like I say, if you don't carry one, you don't love your VW.

------------------
Bryan...St.Petersburg, FL
'62 11W Kombi ;^) "Monie"
'72 Beetle "Punchy"

Zen · Post by **Zen** » Thu May 16, 2002 7:19 am

If a valve cover fails because of anything related to exhaust pressure, you've got some serious problems. I agree the likely cause is the valve cover was bumped around during the installation of the muffler and heater boxes.

If your muffler was made by EMPI, don't worry about the white color that it turned when the paint burnt off . . . it'll be completley covered with rust before long. Clean it up good and spray it with a good quality high temp exhaust paint (I've heard that POR-15 makes a good one) and it should be OK. The stuff EMPI sprays them with at the factory seems to be good up to about 95 degrees . . . if you leave it exposed to sunlight on a hot summer day it'll burn off!LOL

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Derek May:
If you are concerned about fires, change all your fuel lines every couple of years...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Change them every couple of years regardless of condtion, but check their condition every oil change and if you are not 100% positive that they are still flexible and not cracking, change them . . . even if they are only a few months old!

If you want more advice on preventing VW fires, here's a link to Bob Hoover's "TULZ - Part 6; FIRE!" that was posted on RAMVA a couple of years ago: http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20 ... put=gplain

I can tell you from personal experiance, EVERYTHING he says in this article is good advice . . . including the statement about carring a fire extingusher (2 in a bus) because no matter what kind of precautions you take, "s**t happens!"

------------------
Zen Hendricks

"You can observe a lot by watching." -- Yogi Berra
Scenic City Volks Folks, Chattanooga, TN -- Where Air Meets Water! http://www.volksfolks.org

germansupplyscott · Post by **germansupplyscott** » Fri May 17, 2002 12:49 pm

adrian,

i have one that is junk after 12k miles. all the welds are breaking. all of them.

scott lyons

Pillow · Post by **Pillow** » Fri May 17, 2002 10:48 pm

Scott, I hear you man. I had a Beetle and put the Monza in it, bad bad bad. No HP gain, fit was bad, rusted immediately, and just a turd all around.

In future everyone shoud avoid these things.

------------------
Adrian Pillow
'66 VW Westfalia - "Biscuit"
'67 VW Deluxe Westfakia - "Dino"
'79 Porsche 911 SC - "Cochese"

Pillow · Post by **Pillow** » Fri May 17, 2002 11:43 pm

Valve cover gaskets are random failure and probably got disturbed by the muffler installation.... When was the last time you checked your valves?

The Monza mufflers are basically turds, expect it to stink for a while as the cheap "paint" (using that word liberally here) burns off. But the muffler will be fine after that and provide a good solution for a few years until it rusts out from the inside.

------------------
Adrian Pillow
'66 VW Westfalia - "Biscuit"
'67 VW Deluxe Westfakia - "Dino"
'79 Porsche 911 SC - "Cochese"

DallasHead · Post by **DallasHead** » Sat May 18, 2002 8:24 am

Well, after this valve cover thing is fixed, it looks like I actually have lost some HP. This muff seems to restrict air flow, although my old rusty holey one did the opposite. What do you suggest? Stick with stock muffs? If not EMPI then what brand? I think my old one was a BugPack. The dual tips look sharp, but I used to get this sucker up to 85 on the highway, now only 70! Advice?

62T2Doood · Post by **62T2Doood** » Sat May 18, 2002 9:28 am

Assuming you have a stock motor, I would just stick w/ a stock muffler. It will give you the right back pressure, because it's what's supposed to be on there.

I use one on my bus w/ a 1600sp and it works way better than the crap header system the previous owner had on there.

Most importantly w/ a stock exhaust, in my opinion, is to only buy German made. I don't like the way Brazillian exhaust sounds realy, I'm not sure of their quality though.

...... again,....... my 2 cents ;^)

------------------
Bryan...St.Petersburg, FL
'62 11W Kombi ;^) "Monie"
'72 Beetle "Punchy"

DallasHead · Post by **DallasHead** » Sat May 18, 2002 12:05 pm

Actually, it is a 2.0 pancake motor. I don't believe these were in the original 72 Westys. With that in mind, muffler ideas?