cracked exhaust manifold

[Pittdawg]

I upgraded to an extrude honed and ceramic coated manifold just because, or atleast that's what i thought. After taking off the original manifold, I discovered a hairline crack Did not notice any symptoms however.

 

[BeenBlazin]

thats good to hear coleman. getting the leak fixed not the thing about the brain cells

 

[b.paine]

I got my 2007 envoy 6 cyl from a dealer in 2010 at about 36,000 miles and now have about 58k. Am I covered under the warranty for a cracked manifold? I dont have any idea about my manifold being cracked, I just want to be included if I have a problem, thanks.

 

[Fire06]

Knock on wood mine is still good.

 

[b.paine]

Does my dealer have the manifold warranty info?

 

[Fire06]

I would think they would type in your vin and then tell you if you have any coverage

 

[Sparky]

5 years old 58k miles... Hm might be borderline as I'm not sure what the warranty duration is. The dealer could tell you for sure by looking it up in their system.

 

[coleman]

Update: I finally got it to the shop. Turns out I had a couple of broken bolts and a bad gasket. Replaced the whole thing, plus the O2 sensor that they were unable to unscrew, even with applying heat.

Now, no smell whatsoever. In the past when I stopped behind other cars, I thought I was smelling their exhaust. Turns out it was my own exhaust pooling under the hood and leaking in. This has been going on for more than a year. I wonder how many brain cells I've lost.

BTW, here's an added benefit of the repair. For the last couple years, I had experienced a very rough start in the morning when the engine was gold. I could never figure out what the problem was. Now that the manifold has been changed, the roughness has disappeared, the engine is running smoother at all times, and I have more power, too. I guess the loss of compression was the culprit. I'm posting this so it may come up in a search in case someone is having the same mysterious rough, cold start. A leaky manifold could be the source of the problem.

 

[Brian K]

Hi BeenBlazin
Where did you buy the exhaust manifold you got? Mine is at Shaganappi (GM Dealer in Calgary) right now to look at a noisy exhaust - 2009 with 78K kms =46,800 miles. I'm hoping it is covered by warranty (supposed to have 150K kms drive train warranty and hopefully the manifold is covered).
Anyone else in Canada get a warranty replacement? I saw the letter from GM above and will take it in to them if they tell me it's on my nickle.

Brian

 

[coleman]

Hi BeenBlazin
Where did you buy the exhaust manifold you got? Mine is at Shaganappi (GM Dealer in Calgary) right now to look at a noisy exhaust - 2009 with 78K kms =46,800 miles. I'm hoping it is covered by warranty (supposed to have 150K kms drive train warranty and hopefully the manifold is covered).
Brian

Beats me. Brought the truck to my local mechanic and they took care of it.

 

[Brian K]

Took mine to the dealer last night so it could sit outside and they could start it cold in the morning to hear the farm tractor sound. I took it in previously and the mechanic could see the crack but because it was hot - no noise and he wanted to hear the noise before replacing it - and they charged me $100 to 'diagnose' it. They just phoned to say it was done and I could pick it up. Took them 3 hours - no broken bolts I guess. The service advisor (aka commissioned salesman) at first didn't think it was covered and was giving me grief by saying it wasn't a common issue, parts change from year to year etc.. Then I took out the letter from GM (posted above-thanks so much for posting it) and he typed in my VIN, looked to see the letter number (on the bottom of the letter 11150 I think) and voila he was nice as you could ask. Yes mine had that as a notice too - just wasn't sent to me. So there you have it - 2009's are covered as well. So print out the letter and the GM dealers seem to be able to find it better that way. (Maybe there are lots of notices and it is too hard to look throught each one) The Canadian letter says coverage for 193,000 kms (120,000 miles).They probably get a good commission on that so he was eager as punch to get'er done.
Thanks to this forum, I saved probably a grand for the stealership to admit it was a warranty item and replace it. Glad I didn't have to do it myself. I will check to see if they installed a different part number or the same one. Now I'll see if I can get my $100 back.

 

[Brian K]

I picked up my 09 Envoy from the dealer - all good and it is quieter. I asked the Service Advisor if the new manifold was a different P/N than the old one. He phoned the mechanic who said that commencing 2011/06 they started using a new part number. The P/N on my service order for the Manifold is 12637060. They also showed 1 gasket (12595010), 1 seal (15167765), 4 bolts (11609481) and 1 nut (15709703). I thought there would be more than 4 bolts but I'll check later. Hopefully they didn't reuse the old bolts or break any off.
All over the "invoice" was the "Special Policy 11150 applies if manifold is cracked". So anyone that believes they fall under the requirements of the above letter should talk a dealer. I also got my $100 back for their diagnosis when I originally took it in.
I'm a happy camper! So before you decide to do it yourself - see if you still might be covered under the "special policy".
Brian

 

[Fire06]

Nice to read about a happy ending

 

[TrailblazerLT]

Ok guys can some one please tell me how the hell you were able to get the heat shield off!? The bolts on mine are all rusted and wont budge even with pb blaster. I was thinking about cutting them off but didn't know if I would be able to get the heat shield back on. Would it be a problem to just leave the shield off?

 

[TonyT]

2009's are covered as well. So print out the letter and the GM dealers seem to be able to find it better that way. (Maybe there are lots of notices and it is too hard to look throught each one) The Canadian letter says coverage for 193,000 kms (120,000 miles)..

For what years is the coverage? I'm under the kms and the 10 years for the gas tank replacement but mine is a 2003. Dealership said I had a cracked manifold too but as I don't have any check engine codes I'm not too worried about it for right now. Once it warms up it seems to be ok.

 

[The_Roadie]

I thought there would be more than 4 bolts but I'll check later.

I put on all new bolts for mine (13 IIRC). They come with a special high temp dry thread-locking compound applied, so re-using the old ones is a sleazy thing for the dealer to do IMHO.

 

[dfc739]

Thanks for confirming the missing bolt head. That one three me for a loop.

Both my original engine and the salvage yard engine that had original exhaust manifolds had the back bolt broken off. This is a pic of my original engine rear bolt. Luckily it broke off at the base of the bolt head so once I removed the manifold there was a post sticking out to unscrew it. I used a set of the Irwin bolt extractors (worth their weight in gold when you need them).

View attachment 23293

On the salvage yard engine the bolt was broken off flush with the head. Since the engine was out we were able to weld a washer onto it and get the bolt out. If the engine hadn't been out, I think it would have been a matter of making sure the other bolt was tight because there's no way you can get a drill with an easy out in there.