The manifold on my 2013 Nissan Sentra was cracked for a while now probably 3 months until the other day when I started it up my it was so loud my Sentra sounded like a freight train on steroids. I Drove my car to a near by mechanic when he put the car up on the lift he showed me that the manifold had cracked right of the engine, and quoted me $1800. He told me since the car was purchased in CA the catalytic converter was located in the manifold which is why the high cost. My car has 88000 original miles is it worth fixing
As a mechanic that works on many of these vehicles these are my thoughts, do with them as you wish:
With the assumption that the car has an automatic transaxle (CVT) it might be wise to take into account how commonly they fail without warning, we rarely see the transaxles make it past 200xxx-250xxxkms (125xxx-150xxx miles). Another thing to note is the condition of the rest of the exhaust system, did the crack occur because of corrosion? If the rest of the exhaust system is not far behind that might be another large expense looming in the near future. With that being said, make sure that if you do get the manifold replaced, and I can’t stress this enough, make sure your mechanic installs an OEM manifold! About 50% of cheaper aftermarket catalytic converters I have installed on vehicles over the years have been insufficient right out of the box, and can cause engine lights, pour drivability, poor fuel mileage, etc, etc. We always recommend OEM converters to our customers.
Hope you get everything sorted out! Good Luck!
-Tyler Nelson
Tyler Nelson Automotive | Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Thank you for your input on this matter. I want you to know that I do very much appreciate it. You know the car has a few exterior issues here and there but other than that the car has no other issues except for what I’m having to deal with now. That being said it took me 6 years to put on 78,000 miles on this car, and based on what you ( and many others) have stated I should be on the look out for the transmission to start having issues at around 125000- 150000 miles I think I’m gonna throw the $1800 into the car, and look to trade it in towards another vehicle in a couple of years time