I've had an exhaust leak for quite some time now and I want to tackle this issue. I took it into a local muffler shop and I had them check for where the leak is. They pointed out the same area where I saw white smoke coming out when I seafoamed the engine a couple months ago. They said that I should have the exhaust manifold serviced and they quoted me for $270 for that job which only includes resurfacing, changing the gaskets and studs. I'm not too sure if that is worth it as I feel I can do this. What do you guys think?

P.S.
I think this exhaust issue will actually take care of a few other problems I've been having including a P0420 code which is probably caused by the leak where oxygen can get in and make the O2 sensors read funky and think the Catalytic converter is not working properly.
The other issue is a clicking noise when I accelerate occasionally though.

 

what year/engine/model do you have?

 

Sorry I forgot to mention that. I have 1999 4runner/3.4 V6/ "highlander" edition.

 

Wellllllll

First of all PO420 is a catalytic deficiency (bank 1) so you either need a cat or that sensor is bad, an exhaust leak that is large could cause this but I would bet if its small then the sensor or cat is the culprit

I doubt that you need new exhaust studs, I think you were being taken for a ride on that one.

Resurfacing the exhaust manifolds should run you about $30 per manifold, not sure if one is leaking or if both are leaking. Gaskets run around $30-40 for each manifold depending on what brand you go with.

I would say you could do this for $100 or less if only one manifold is leaking. (aside from the po420, cats for these bad boys are around $200 if your lucky, and the sensor isn't too cheap either)

 

Oh and PS you should see black carbon buildup around the leaking area of the manifold. If you are unsure of where the leak is coming from, mechanics stethoscopes are the perfect tool for that task

 

They quoted studs to cover their asses because some of them will probably break when trying to remove the nuts. I would try doing it yourself first...

 

Yep, they tend to do that. A bag of studs isn't that much anyway.

This is a nasty job with the engine in the truck, worst part will probably removing the broken stud/studs if there are any.

 

I took it to one shop who told me I have a exhaust leak at the manifold. I took it to another shop yesterday and they said I had no leaks. They then took a thermo gun and determined that the two cats were "dead". The first cat had higher temperature readings on the front of the cat and lower at the end. The second cat had the same temperature readings for front and back. They said that the only aftermarket Cat that works well is the CherryBomb. The magnaflow cats and other aftermarkets seem to have problems and their customers have been coming back after a few months with the same P0420 code...I don't know what to believe, how can I diagnose my problem? I want to start off with the cheapest route and narrow it down. I figure I must have some type of leak, since occasionally, when I accelerate hard I hear a clicking noise. Thanks for any help.