Exhaust port colour

[Zlat347]

hi all, 

 

Pulled of exhaust manifold to do some upgrades and found the first 3 ports to be fairly clean looking and the last 3 ports to be black in colour. 

 

Has anyone else taken note of this when pulling exhuast manifold off? 

Can runs on e85

Last spark plug change all plugs looks fairly identical and clean.

 

Thanks 

[k31th]

that's just a leak around your gasket there... not too uncommon.

 

get a new gasket and seal it up nicely.

[Zlat347]

Here's a close up, would a exhuast leak cause the black soot inside the chamber?

First 3 ports look similar to first pic and last 3 get darker. 

 

Cheers. 

[k31th]

yeah, the soot you can see outside the head and behind the gasket as you photographed it indicates that you've had a gasket leak and it'd then rebound some of that back into the chamber.

[Zlat347]

Aha, makes sense. Thank you sir.

 

Is there any sealant required for these gaskets? 

 

I'm pretty sure I've removed the exhaust manifold before once and reused the gasket.

[k31th]

nah, that gasket doesn't require sealant.

[Zlat347]

Arent the gaskets reusable? Wonder why it would leak was tight as hell undoing the nuts.

I can't see any damage on the gasket or other surfaces

[k31th]

not technically re-usable, but yes, if it's sealing it can be re-used... yours isn't sealing, so definitely needs to be replaced.

[arronm]

The black colour is blowby from the PCV valve sucking oil vapour into the inlet. To stop it install a catch can.  

[Zlat347]

I have a catch can and its empty, no pcv.

Forward facing plenum and 6 boost high mount. 

 

I did notice a slight valve cover leak ontop of those last couple exhaust ports, unless it has trickled down past the gasket and sucked in?