I just found out that I have an exhaust leak between the drivers side manifold and head. It's leaking around one of the bolts on the farthest rear flang. The mechanic is saying that it could be possible to replace just the one bolt, but reccomends removing the entire header and replacing the gasket.

My questions
1. is this a do-it-yourself project? I hear getting the bolts out can be tough and if I broke one off I could be screwed.

2. what could it hurt to replace just the one bolt?

3. what's a good price to have the gasket replaced? The mechanic is quoting around $225 to remove the header, replace the gasket and reinstall. The price could be higher if he has to do any welding to the manifold or if a bolt/stud breaks off.

B

 

The manifold will have to be welded, they're cheap on ebay. The gasket is only $7 and they're reusable anyway. You can take it out yourself in about an hour or so.

 

thats alot of money.
i paid like 100-120 to get mine removed, welded and reinstalled.

 

I found this on craigslist. What do you guys think? Is this a good deal? What should I look for?

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/pts/1824133174.html

Brian

 

I wussed out and had a mechanic repair my exhaust leak. He had me all parinoid about breaking a bolt off in the head...LOL. It turned out that it was a cracked weld on the exhause manifold. I ended up purchasing the exhause system on craigslist (listed above) and replaced the old driverside manifold with the one I bought. That was cheaper than welding the old one. I ended up paying about $250 for removal of the old, replacing the gasket and installing the used manifold. Car runs a lot better now. Just keeping anyone interested in the loop. Thanks again for everyones input.

Brian

 

well glad you were able to get it fixed. If you find a set of used 94-98 manifolds you should pick them up and replace your Edge ones. The 94-98 flow better and wont crack like your Edge ones will probably do again.

Matthew