Alicieont

I have a 2000 V6 3.8L and have a cracked exhaust manifold. I have read a lot of forums saying that i have one of 3 options, replace it with another one of the same, get long headers, or go with the 94-94 exhaust manifold because it does not have the same cracking problems as the 2000 model does. Questions for each. If i replace it with the same manifold, how likely is it to crack again? If i replace it with headers, depending on which kind i get (looking for budget friendly), will i still have problems with cracking or will it hold up better? If going with the 94-95 manifold, will there be any issues of trading it out that i will have to worry about? Answers as well as personal advice is all appreciated. Thanks!

TRexGAWD

Might have better luck in the V6 section.. someone who has experience in that car can chime in over there.

uberstang1

Moving

Alicieont

Thanks!

Derf00

This happened with my 00 v6 many moons ago. The 94-98 exhaust manifolds do not have the weldpoint like the 99-04 models so they are not prone to cracking like yours is. It's more of a hassle to swap the older style in than to keep the same style for your year of car.

The actual root cause of the problem for the passenger side is that the A/C condensor drain is aligned directly over the weldpoint on the Passensger side exhaust manifold. Over time the cold shock of water hitting a hot manifold will crack the weld.

You won't get much HP out of long tubes on the v-6 unless your motor is pushing some serious HP. I'd buy the same OEM type manifold and reroute the drain line on your V6 so it doesn't drop the water on the manifold. I can't recall what the drain fix entailed but it was simply a matter of adding some tubing to the existing drain and having it dump the water elsewhere (Less than $5 to fix) or to install a line on the drain if it didn't exist, again less than $5.

When mine went out I bought MAC shorty headers. That was a mistake. The way the tubes are designed they will come in contact with the Spark Plug Wires and I could never get the AIR tubes to fit right. I ended up having to use a compression fitting extension to make the AIR tubes seal correctly.