Questions and Answers

Pathfinder Manifolds

Q. What would the expense be to have a exhaust manifold or the donut repaired. The front of my 1994 Nissan Pathfinder standard 4 wheel drive, has a new sound the past 3 or so months. It's as if a tube has cracked and the sound that's permeated is a horse sound (not like a horse), and when I increase my speed, it sounds like a mild popping sound. A friend of mine said that Nissan's have had trouble with the exhaust manifold and they done many repairs on it at his place of employment. He also said the labor is $105 per hour and it would take 3 hours to do. He isn't aware of the cost for the parts. I need to know how much more it would cost and if I didn t get it done soon, what type of damage will it cause (if it hasn't already). I maintain my vehicle, get the 3,000 mile oil changes, had the 64,000 and 80,000 maintenance.

I appreciate your response.

Thank you,
Lydia

A. Okay Lydia, I'll price this out for you as if you were a customer coming into my shop.

The exhaust manifold for the right side (Nissan P/N 14004-12G02) is $130.08 and 2.5 hours labor. (2.5 x $105.00 = $262.50) The manifold for the left side (Nissan P/N 14006-88G00) is $158.09 and the labor is 3.4 hours labor. (3.4 x $105.00 = $357.00) You can get used manifolds from a junkyard for a lot less than the new ones.

If it's the gaskets that are bad (Nissan P/N 14037-V5000), the gaskets are $18.77 and the labor would be the same.

Now, you should be aware that the manifolds themselves don't usually break. On the other hand the studs in the head that the manifolds bolt on with do, quite often. The studs will break off and then the exhaust manifold gasket will blow out resulting in the noise you describe. Nissan came out with new manifold studs that do not break off. The improved studs, P/N 14065-V5003 should be used to replace the old studs regardless of what else is needed.

Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA