Alright, I'm doing the exhaust manifold on my storied 97 XJ 4x4 AWD i6.

Everything has gone smoothly, except I cannot seem to fit the end of the exhaust manifold pipe into the downpipe flange. The donut gasket just seems too large.

This is the dorman exhaust manifold.

I thought maybe I could just bold the things together and the pressure would cause the donut to press in... no such luck.

What am I doing wrong???

 

Are you mating the exhaust manifold to the old downpipe or a new one? If old, it may be bent out of shape and not angled to position into the new manifold. When I replaced my exhaust manifold, I got a new downpipe and let it dangle freely until I mated it to the manifold - then I hooked it up to the catalytic converter.

 

I bet you got a donut for the 258 six cylinder.

 

Use only genuine MOPAR Seal.


OEM part number 52005431.


MSRP $17.00

 

Weird, I posted a reply that disappeared.

It was indeed the wrong donut. as cruiser54 thought. They gave me a felpro to replace it, and it fit right on, no issues.

Now my exhaust pipe is rattling on the trans mount cross member... posted about that if you guys have any ideas.

From now on I'll get the mopar.

 

More than likely the rubber isolator in the transmission mount bracket is worn out (see pic) allowing the exhaust pipe to sag.


You might try loosening the nuts at the flange and drive a wedge between the cross member and the transmission mount bracket to gain room between the two, then tighten the flange nuts. Remove the wedge and see if the gap holds. Sometimes it helps.


Replacement rubber isolators are not available, nor is the mount (part number 52058882). I made my own isolator out of a rubber sanding block.



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Brad Point Drill required.


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I made a holding fixture for the rubber piece for accurate drilling.