Exhaust Manifold?????

Mrs7ones

Hi,
I really need a bit of advice re my car - i'm not very technically minded and fear being ripped off!

My 4 yo Picasso went for it'sMOT this week, and failed due to a crack/split in the exhaust manifold. this means NOTHING to me ....
the mechanic said he needed to order a part from Citroen as his supplier didn,t do a part to fit... it's going to cost me £250 for the part and fillting.
when I mentioned it in my office, I was told that it would just need welding, not replacing ...

Can anyone out there offer any advice please. Is my mechanic seeing me right of am i being taked for a ride??

many thanks xx

Moya

we had a crack in our manifold which was weldable - but it does depend on the zies and location - we were told if it had got any bigger then it wouldn't have been able to be fixed and would need replacing.

my husband is a welder and said when i asked - that welds were possibly up to certain sizes due to stresses and strains - above that they would fail.

do you trust the garage?

perhaps pop it into another one for second opinion? the garage we take ours to for services and MOT is very trustworthy and won't do work that isn't required (but we do have a very good relationship with them).

Volcano

Second opinion.

For garages there's far more money in it for them (and frequently less effort) to replace a part than repair. For £250 I'd certainly ask another MOT garage "Can you weld this and if so will it then pass its MOT?".

naijapower

Please ask for a 2nd opinion. Take to another garage. Thats the only way to know if it is weldable or not

roddydogs

Yes, but u lose the MOT fee.

steveo3002

not many garaged ive worked would offer welding it

for one , chances are its cast iron and they wont have the correct gear to weld it

and secondly , theyre often in a tight area so would need removal to have a chance at welding it well , so while its off it makes sense (for them) to replace it with new and know you wont be back moaning its failed again

has the car sounded ropey latley? either a loud tractor style noise or ticking on start up

you could also look at a second hand manifold

vikingaero

The parts for the manifold aren't always that expensive. It just that it often turns out to be a pig of a job to do. The location of the manifold and the fact that 99% of the time the studs will have rusted solid and seized and need drilling out.

Pssst

If it is weldable it might be inaccessible so garage may take the view that by teh time theyve stripped it off,welded and re-assembled,they might as well stick a new one on as the cost might be very little difference. Exhaust manifolds can be right b'tards to get off and are usually in tight spots

Lorian

Last time I needed to replace a manifold I got a new part from ebay for about £70 (not citroen). However I had to also buy a dremmel with flexible shaft, a stud extractor, drill & remove two broken studs. It was a very awkward job and took me ages. With hindsight £250 for someone else to do it sounds OK to me. Make sure they are replacing the gasket at the same time.

Oh and call me a cynic, but ask for the old part, so you can check it was really split. Sometimes they just warp and and can be skimmed, but that's still time consuming/costly. Might be some ebay resale value though (tenner maybe).

Mrs7ones

Thanks all for the advice.
I phoned the garage and asked about welding, and he said feel free to give it a try - elsewhere though, as he wouldn't do it cos he wasn't convinced it would work and couldn't guarantee his work (fair enough, I thought)!!
He said the crack was quite large and was surprised I hadn't heard the noise it was making (that'd be cos of the loud music played whilst driving I suppose)....
So, given all I've read and my chat with the mechanic, I think i'll just stump up the £250
:rolleyes:

harveybobbles

roddydogs wrote: »

Yes, but u lose the MOT fee.

I've only ever paid upon reciept of a pass cert, so the OP wouldnt loose owt...

OP: try EuroCarParts or similar for a price. 9 times out of 10 it will weld up, but they wont make much money from you that way lol.