93 850 Any decent a.m. exhaust manifold gaskets?

Post by **JimBee** » 01 Nov 2015, 11:35

It's time to tweak up my 93 for winter service. This car is a great starter and has been very reliable since I bought it in 2008 (my first Volvo).

For the last 4 years, I've driven it mainly November to May.

I know I need to replace the exhaust manifold "donut" gasket. I've seen a couple advertised on Amazon, Partsgeek, etc., one branded by Walker. The aftermarket ones have tended to not last very long, but the $60.00 plus for the Volvo version does give me pause.

Has anyone found a decent cheap replacement?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 01 Nov 2015, 15:03

Are you sure it is the gasket and not the flex joint itself? I have had a bunch of trouble with the flex joints cracking but for the gasket I just used whatever OBX sent me and it worked fine. I'm sure they don't send OEM.

...Lee

Post by **JimBee** » 02 Nov 2015, 15:54

I had a flex joint crack on my 96, too, and had to replace the manifold with one of those $140.00 jobs. So far, after one year, it's okay.
But on my 93, before the flex joint, they used a coupling of the hard pipe with the hard manifold flange and a somewhat soft donut gasket between them. All held together with two long bolts backed with very strong springs to hold it tight but allow some play with engine movement.
I think one of the problems with this design is guessing how tight the bolts should be given the quality of the replacement gasket.
I can see the one I installed 4 or 5 years ago is pretty squashed. I'll probably take a chance with the Walker branded one I've seen on line, see how that works.