So after weeks of what I though was excessive exhaust smell entering the car, I decided to pull off all of the heat shields on my exhaust and look for the leak. Low and behold, there is a hairline crack in the exhaust manifold. Now I wouldn't be too particular about the crack, except for the fact that the underside of the heat shield is blackened from so much exhaust leaking through the crack.

Options:
1. Take it to the dealer, I haven't touched the stock manifold, so therefore it should be covered under warranty?

2. Find a used manifold and fix it myself, not bothering with the costs/time associated with hunkering down in a potential battle with the dealer

3. Weld it shut.

Not looking to upgrade the manifold at this time.

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Are you still under warranty? If I was I'd probably take it in. If for out of pocket money reasons nothing else. If out of warranty I'd swap with a used one myself. Should be able to find on classifieds.

So why did it crack I wonder? Did it get wet? Wash down engine? Track day? Any reason?

 

They crack just like any manifold. Repeated heat cycles tend to do that. Turbo manifolds tend to do it faster than an NA manifold.

Was it in the center of the collector? That's where they tend to crack due to the heat buildup.
I have 52k miles on mine and it has just started cracking on the inside of the collector.

 

That sucks, if you have a warranty I would let them do it. Otherwise I would either pick up a used one or an aftermarket one. Takes some time to swap out the stock one.

 

Yeah its cracking right in the middle of it... What do you guys think about taking it in with my turbo-back exhaust on it.. if that isn't a stupid question... I don't figure they could say my downpipe or rest of the exhaust could have caused it to crack.

 

They could say it but, I agree, the post DP exhaust parts shouldn't increase the likelihood of cracking. But....I've heard crazy stories about dealers indicating a mod affecting unrelated parts on the car, so it's a little hard to say. Depends on the dealer.

I'd probably just bring it in with the exhaust in place and try to have a rational discussion.

 

Update*

Took car to dealer, charged me a 99$ diagnostic fee to look at car.

Called me back after an hour and said they will have to submit to MMNA due to it being over 500$, they will also need to send 4 pictures of the vehicle and if they choose to fix it under warranty they will flag my vehicle for being modified and they will "void my warranty." I told them okay whatever (my warranty expires in 8 months anyways)

An hour after that I get a call saying, nevermind, its not part of your powertrain warranty, its part of the 36month 36k mile bumper to bumper warranty, so it wont be covered... Since when does exhaust not fall under powertrain?

Just thought I would share for any of you in the same boat that may benefit from this info.

 

Call Mitsu North American corporate.

 

Thats just crazy Mitsu should cover it...... 5 year 60k miles power train warranty.

 

+1 Everything attached to your motor and transmission is covered under the 5yr drive train warranty.

 

He showed me a warranty sheet from MMNA that listed the Manifold separately from everything else, and having a warranty of 3yr 36k miles

 

I wouldn't replace it with an oem manifold anyway. Shops like Fullrace, Toxic fab will have a much better replacement manifold for the stock turbo.