How long should a header last?

97XJ with 330K miles.

Back when the Jeep was a young 208K miles, the factory exhaust manifold cracked and needed replacement. Of course I UPGRADED to a header. The stainless steel header was warranted for life so I figured I was done with ever having to replace again. Now at 330K the Stainless Steel header is cracked and needs to be sent back for replacement under warranty. I get stuck for 350.00 worth of labor. As this header lasted only a little more than half the life of the factory junky manifold, I wonder if this is normal life-span of a stainless steel header.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Jeff-97XJ said:

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

$350 for labor to install a header is insane.

Install you own junk. It only takes a few hours.

The life span of any exhaust manifold/header is a product of the properties of its metals, the design, the manufacturing methods, the number of warm up/cool down cycles, and the condition of the motor mounts.

Some manifolds are better, some not so much. Use cycles and motor mount condition are probably the main factors in the equation.

some guys put a small section of flex pipe after the down pipe to relieve some of the strain the header sees under load and the normal processes of heating and cooling.

Depends on the header you bought. You can buy a cheap stainless one on ebay for 150 bucks or you can buy an expensive one from borla for much more. I would expect that a well built expensive header would last much longer than one made of cheaper materials and workmanship.

If you got 120k miles out of it, I'd say you got your money's worth, not to mention the company is going to replace it after all those miles.

The labor check is not the header company's problem, so you shouldn't blame them for it. They're holding up to their end of the warranty, which is what you expected when you bought the part in the first place.

1990JEEPXJ said:

some guys put a small section of flex pipe after the down pipe to relieve some of the strain the header sees under load and the normal processes of heating and cooling.

Click to expand...

do this and/or get some better motor mounts.

Brown Dog engine mounts are a safe bet to eliminate engine movement and are simple to install and will last a lifetime. Make sure you order a set that works with an aftermarket header.

After I installed my APN header, I had a short 6" flex pipe installed but I was not happy with the results. I eventually went to a reputable exhaust shop and they spliced in a mandrel-bent downpipe and took out the flex pipe. My Jeep has more power, the engine is rock solid, and it sounds great.

Brown Dog mounts, mandrel bent downpipe, Magnaflow muffler, and free flowing header are all great investments and will prevent further engine movement and cracked headers in the future.

I've been running a borla since 1993 but it only has about 150k on it. It does have a few rock dents and maybe a couple from a drive line or two.

I remember that install well.
1. Yes lets go for a quick desert trip and have a few beers.
2. Damn this road is muddy. It's 2 am and we still have 30 miles to go and our case of beer is almost gone.
3. We better drop Jody off before hitting the wash. We said we would have him home by midnight and it's 3:30.
4. 4:00. That was a dumb idea. We should have bought more beer. This thing is a mess.
5. 4:30. Take a nap.
6. 7:00 Go outside and realize there is still a lot of mud underneath. Start washing.
7. 9:00 finally getting getting started. We need beer. Send Russ to town on a bicycle, it's only 5 miles and will help wake him up.
8. 11:00. Ahhh the beer is helping.
9. 6:00. It's done. Head to the desert for testing. Buy extra beer this time. Call Jody, he declined, something about you're stupid.
10. 2:00 Where are we?

I don't know if I could do that again, even for $350.