1997 Toyota Corolla and Cracked Manifolds

Over the last 2 years we have replaced 4 manifolds and currently
working on a getting a fifth.

We have all of them replaced under waranty so I have had no real out of
pocket expenses. But the mechanic is saying that the supplier is not
wanting to replace the current one under warranty.

The last one, the mechanic ground the heads down, hoping that it will
solve the problem. This Fall the sound came back, and so did the
smell.

Now, they are suggesting, the heads are warped.

So I am at a cross roads. There is a possiblity to have a $2000 ( I
also require a timing belt and other gerneral repairs) repair bill for
a car that is currently valued between $4-5000. It has 245,000Km. And
it still might not solve the problem of the cracking manifolds.

We are hoping that while the engine is having the manifold removed and
the timing belt replaced they can find the issue with the disappearing
oil. We have always gone thru 1 quart a week since we bought the car
used in 2000.

When you say "manifolds" I will assume you mean the exhaust manifold.

There is a permanent solution to cracked exhaust manifolds. The
Corolla I bought had a cracked exhaust manifold. This condition is an
epidemic among these cars. It's very common to find a Toyota sedan
(Corolla, Camry, etc) with over 100,000 miles that has a cracked
exhaust manifold. This has nothing to do with the cylinder head or
engine - rather one of the few things Toyota cut corners on in
quality.

The solution you ask? Well the solution is to invest a whopping
$100.00 in stainless steel headers, which you can purchase easily on
ebay: [url]http://tinyurl.com/opx3b[/url] . Most selections even come with a
down pipe that runs right to the catalytic converter, the hardware,
and the gaskets. Problem solved.

No amount of engine work will solve the problem of cracked exhaust
manifolds; unless you are one of the very rare exceptions.

Good luck,

Tom





On 11 Oct 2006 17:43:43 -0700, "littleduke" <tdickhout@mycybernet.net>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>Over the last 2 years we have replaced 4 manifolds and currently
>working on a getting a fifth.
>
>We have all of them replaced under waranty so I have had no real out of
>pocket expenses. But the mechanic is saying that the supplier is not
>wanting to replace the current one under warranty.
>
>The last one, the mechanic ground the heads down, hoping that it will
>solve the problem. This Fall the sound came back, and so did the
>smell.
>
>Now, they are suggesting, the heads are warped.
>
>So I am at a cross roads. There is a possiblity to have a $2000 ( I
>also require a timing belt and other gerneral repairs) repair bill for
>a car that is currently valued between $4-5000. It has 245,000Km. And
>it still might not solve the problem of the cracking manifolds.
>
>We are hoping that while the engine is having the manifold removed and
>the timing belt replaced they can find the issue with the disappearing
>oil. We have always gone thru 1 quart a week since we bought the car
>used in 2000.[/color]

[color=blue]
> The solution you ask? Well the solution is to invest a whopping
> $100.00 in stainless steel headers, which you can purchase easily on
> ebay: [url]http://tinyurl.com/opx3b[/url] . Most selections even come with a
> down pipe that runs right to the catalytic converter, the hardware,
> and the gaskets. Problem solved.
>
> No amount of engine work will solve the problem of cracked exhaust
> manifolds; unless you are one of the very rare exceptions.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Tom
>[/color]

In this case I'd agree, find an aftermarket solution with fairly thick
wall thickness and whap that on. Ive replaced two manifolds on my
celica (does get hot though, like transparent hot) and ive done one on
a renault too. Seems exhaust manifolds really struggle to cope.

Thank you for your idea, of the headers.

I am not a mechanic nor do I try to be. I will share this with my
mechnic and we will see what happens.