1996 850 NA Exhaust Manifold Info

[PeteB]

Our 850 got slightly loud when cold around 2016, then in 2022 the pipe broke right behind
the cat. We made the mistake of driving it with the cat hanging a few miles to the muffler
shop. They welded the pipe and it seems to be a good enough job but it didn't fix the
small leak that we've had for so long.

It seems that the leak that started around 2016 is in a different spot and has gotten bigger
but we've been unable to find it. I believe that it is in front of the cat and probably at the
5 to 1 header point. Abscate generously dropped of an extra manifold a few days ago.
I took a close look at it and found that the flange for the cat can be rotated, on a closer look
the 5 to 1 exit is fluted and the flex pipe is bent over the fluted spot.
I'm going to guess that the cat hanging opened up this area and is causing the leak.

We will take a closer look the next time I have the car here. We have to find the leak before
just changing parts and doing a lot of work.

I wanted to mention this since I've not read about it anywhere.

[PeteB]

I'm pointing to the spot where it rotates, there's also some damage there. This area
is normally covered by the steel braided shield that's probably there to allow some
rotation yet discourage leakage:
The braid is also missing on our car but we didn't even know that it allowed for rotation,
we need to check there for leaks and damage.

VOLVO 850 NA EXHsm.jpg (172.54 KiB) Viewed 644 times