Front Exhaust Gasket Replacement

[tmontague]

I figured I should post something brief about this to save some of you a larger headache.

The front exhaust gasket located just down from the manifold and held together by 2 spring bolts is something I'd recommend replacing every 120,000km, especially if you live in the salt belt.

I just replaced mine of my Yaris at 137,000km and the gasket was pretty much toast. The bolts were in terrible shape but luckily came off without too many problems with a breaker bar.

I Changed the gasket on my Echo as well and this is where the headache started. The gasket was in terrible shape and only one bolt finally came loose after letting some PB Blaster soak on it for about 20mins. The other bolt stripped but luckily came out with a bolt off socket.

If you install the new bolts with anti seize on the threads and coat the bolt in an anti rust than you will save yourself a big headache down the road. The bolts are already a huge PITA the access due to how far in you have to reach (thanks to the sub frame) and it becomes that much harder when they aren't cooperating.