[T3] leaky doughnut gasket

[Keith Park]

Yea, what Jim said.  I put some braze on my heaterboxes and filed it down
before mounting the muffler last time, still didnt really get it sealed
properly.  I keep putting it off thinking that the motor wont last much
longer but that was years ago and the engine is about to hit 144K.

No idea there was a mouse nest in there, but really... Ill bet there is in
all my other mufflers too.  probably best to store them with corks in them.
That must not have smelled very good for a bit, but probably the best way to

get it out is pull a long hill on the highway.

I gotta peek in my other mufflers now....

Keith


-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org [mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org]
On Behalf Of Jim Adney
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2014 3:46 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] leaky doughnut gasket

On 25 Oct 2014 at 13:29, Dennis Stiefel wrote:

> I finally got the muffler that I got back in the summer on Clementine this
> week. Now I seem to be having problems getting the doughnut gaskets
> sealing off between the muffler and the ends of the heater boxes.  There
is
> a ticking sound from the leak around there. The driver side is worse than
> the passenger side. 

If you look at the heat exchanger pipes before you mount the muffler, 
you will probably see that the OD is necked down where that doughnut 
has to seal. This is simply due to years of use and corrosion. I wrap 
that section with alum flashing and/or heavy alum foil before I slide 
the doughnut on there. Copper is more expensive, but I suspect it 
would work just as well. Try to wrap the foil as tightly as you can, 
and make it large enough that you can just barely slide the doughnut 
over it.

It's also important to straighten the flares on the ends of the 
muffler pipes before you install the muffler, because those have 
almost always been bent up in storage and shipping by the time we get 
them.

BTW, I find that those 2 lower pipes into the muffler, the ones that 
are part of the muffler, are often the first things to rust out. I've 
found that I can carefully cut pieces of alum flashing that almost 
perfectly cover those pieces. Then clamp them tightly with a pair of 
hose clamps on each side. It seems like the galvanic difference 
between the alum flashing and the steel muffler keeps those parts of 
the muffler from rusting out. Since I've started doing this, my 
mufflers always rust out somewhere else first. Once you've made those 
alum bits, you can reuse them on the next muffler, so it's a great 
investment in your time.

> I remember they use to be a white paste in a tube to help seal exhaust
> leaks if I can find it I was thinking about putting this around the
> doughnut to see if that may seal it. 

Muffler paste. I've used it in places with good results, but it 
doesn't work well if the 2 parts are free to vibrate with respect to 
one another. So it will work on those joints only if you've managed 
to get the doughnuts to seal pretty well already. That's never worked 
for me. YMMV.

> They was a big rat's nest in this muffler and it blew it out the tail
> pipe. I'll have to post the photo of it later. The smell when it warmed
> up was not good but I figure that will fix itself.  

The same thing happened to someone who bought a muffler from me 
recently. It was a muffler I had bought out of someone's barn and I 
had no idea that there was a problem inside it. Like yours, it was 
fine once all the little bits and pieces of mouse and mouse nest had 
been expelled. I was apologetic and he was very nice about it.

> Also on the elbows that go between the upper heater boxes and the fan
> housing the one on the driver's side has an extra fitting on the top
> for a hose that is smaller than the one on bottom. Where does this hook
> to?     

That little port on the top is for the hose that runs to the charcoal 
cannister that's mounted above the tranny. It's probably not doing 
anything anymore, so the best thing to do is to just plug that port.

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

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