Exhaust Manifold aka Extractor

Mileage: 100,765KM
Workshop: Yash Maju Enterprise

I have been noticing a slight drop in my car performance since 85K KM and moreover, there was an echo of undesirable noise emitted from the front end of the car especially when starting it from a cold engine condition. Further investigation was carried out and to my shock I had a crack on one of my extractor pipe. The crack revealed itself when I undone the heat shield during my regular maintenance week. Just over 4 years old of ownership, I had this crack which quite surprising, usually cracks will happens near to 10 years of usage.

Item marked as “1”

I opted to have a new or relatively new replacement part and if possible not from Bestari spare part bin. A replacement from CBU should have a very good durability and I seldom heard a CBU unit having this kind of issue in early age. It does have it but in the later years, maybe more than 7 years old. To procure a new unit involve quite a hefty sum of money but lucky for me I managed to procure a relatively new replacement.

For this task, I had to have it done at the workshop because access to hydraulic lift (4 points jack) is a must. Else, I will be spending the whole day to dismantle it provided that I can tackle the lambda sensor easily. The latter was a bit PITA even the mechanic can not guarantee that it can come off easily and may not be in good condition due to years of surface bonding which affect the locking thread. This time around, I’m not sending my lion to my regular mechanic due to Eidul Fitri in next couple of days and he is unable to entertain my case due to manpower shortage, thus I have to visit another reputable shop albeit a bit far from my home.

Pak Abu @ Yash Maju, dismantling the CAT

 
In order to take out the extractor, some of other components need to dismantle as well like the catalytic converter and readjusting the power steering pipe. Luckily, Pak Abu did not dismantle my radiator as he said it can be done with the radiator still attach but need to be extra careful and required a longer time (I’m the only customer on the first half of the day, lucky me!)
 

The cracked (in circle) extractor; left one inch before a complete separation

Exhaust manifold gasket, replaced as some carbon trying to escape in between. Sign of failure

The catalytic converter

The replacement, different batch number

The prep work on the replacement

The whole replacement job consisting of the extractor, exhaust manifold gasket and catalytic converter gasket. Took almost 4 hours to complete it as Pak Abu is very particular on the fitting. Now my Lion has its roar, I can feel the power across the RPM band. Previously, I can feel a slight power dip after the mid rpm and all the way to red line.