Manifold gasket help

[Sam89]

Has anybody ever had any problems with the manifold gasket wearing?

Whilst driving steady there is no problem, when on boost or driving fairly harder thank normal my manifold is whistling really loud!
Checked it out when I fitted my downpipe and there is a black sooty build up around one side of the manifold, smoke tested the car and it leaks slightly

How hard is this to do?
And is it a common problem or just a wear thing?
Car has done 80k and is leon cypress mk2

Thanks

[bacillus]

Not saying that this is the case in your car but sometimes the exhaust downpipe flange warps due to a hot spot and the manifold gasket no longer seal properly leading to an exhaust leak. The ideal solution is to make the warped surface flat again by using the services of a machine shop to skim it.
The cheaper solution is to use two manifold gaskets and hope that it seals properly but this isn't a good long term option.

[Sam89]

We found the source of the leak whilst fitting my milltek downpipe so hopefully that won't be warped,
Would it benefit from fitting 2 gaskets?
Also is it a hard job or just a case of remove all the bolts, pull it off and put the new gasket on?

Also been looking at tubular custom manifolds, would this benefit in anyway towards the power? Or would it be a pointless modification!

Cheers

[vRSAlex]

K03/K04 turbo has a built in manifold to hotside so you cant change it.

Is it 100% the gasket as its also likely to be the pants welds on the downpipe.  Pop the whole pipe off and check for cracks around the flange.

[Sam89]

K03/K04 turbo has a built in manifold to hotside so you cant change it.

Is it 100% the gasket as its also likely to be the pants welds on the downpipe.  Pop the whole pipe off and check for cracks around the flange.

100% not the downpipe,
It started doing it whilst me standard d/p was fitted, when i changed this for my milltek one we smoke tested the car, we found it leaking from the manifold,
On further inspection we found a black soot around one side of the manifold where it bolts to the engine, on slight revs you can hear it blowing aswel!

Im just wanting to know how big a job it is to just replace the gasket between manifold and engine?
We tried to nip the bolts up but it didnt solve anything so looks to be the gasket that is fooked

[aloo6]

My intake manifold wore at 70k(ish) miles.

the variable bit (top left hand side) was turned oval and was letting oil/crap/pressure out all over the underside of my engine cover.

Bought the manifold for £400, fitting was tricky due to the placement of bolts but not overly difficult. had to remove egr and throttle body, which I cleaned at same time, all in around 4hours taking my time.

Mines is a gt tdi 170 tho.