Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience with exhaust gases being blown from the intake manifold.

Last week I noticed a ticking noise coming from the engine bay, I noticed a little loss of power when accelerating and a smell of exhaust in the cab, opened the bonnet to take a proper look and removed the engine cover noticing there was soot and carbon all over the intake manifold, particularly around port 1 and 2 (left to right), the car makes a terrible air popping blowing sound and exhaust gas is clearly seen coming from in between port 1 and 2, when you hover hand over area you can feel air hitting your hand.

The car also struggles to start when left for a while and idles rough until it settles in and feels ok, it had an oil & filter change 2 days prior to this issue also and there are no EMl or other codes stored in the system.

Steps I have taken:

Stripped the intake manual from the engine following Haynes manual,
Cleaned out all the ports the best I could & cleaned the intake manifold as it was covered in carbon,
Bought & replaced the full gasket set including rocker cover gasket etc,
Rebuilt manifold to engine and tested with no luck, still same issue and took at least 5 attempts to turn over before starting.

My next intention is to buy a 2nd hand intake manifold from a local scrap yard and fit that to see if I have the same issue but I'm beginning to think I have a serious problem with the head.

If anyone has had a similar experience to me and can share any knowledge or tips it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Nick.

This issue was resolved with the help of users from another forum.

For anyone interested:

Injector 2 was leaking past the copper seal, removed injector, cleaned off all the carbon & replaced washer, car runs like new.