Cracked Exhaust Man. - what else to look for

:roll: I did a search and read the associated threads. Just wondering if you'd tell me what you think? My son and I just picked up a 1988 Cherokee Laredo. Two door, auto, 6 cyl, 212,000 miles. Body and interior are mint, really, better that any of the other projects we picked up! The kid who owned it, said that when he bought it, the guy told him the engine had been rebuilt. Didn't know much than that, but it appears like he is telling the truth. He said he drove it for about a year, the one day as he was driving, it started losing power. He said he babied it home and parked it. He eventually took it to a mechanic, who told him the exhaust manifold was crack, which was causing it to run so bad. The mechanic quoted him $700 to fix it, and the kid didn't want to put the money into it. It starts up and really sounds like a major exhaust leak around the manifold. Didn't get under it to check it out, but the mechanic appears right about that. The mechanic also told him that whoever rebuilt the engine, ahd some fo the vacumn lines messed up.

Well, as luck would have it, we already have a 4 door twin to this one, running great, so I figured I could cross reference all the vacumn lines and get that straighted out. We are picking it up today and will post pictures later, but was looking for suggestions on going to pull-n-save and getting a replacement manifold, or buying after market. Sounds like it's not a hard job to replace, just time consuming. Appreciate any suggestions, but for $300 dollars, didn't think it was a bad buy. Heck, if we can't fix it, I'm sure we can get our money back. The kid got 15 phone calls wanting it while we were checking it out. One guy even drove up and offered him more money to break our deal. Gee, that brings the total to 4 cherokees and a factory restored 1976 CJ-5 at the house!
Thanks everyone! :laugh3:

Jeep finally did something about the manifold. Find a late model manifold - 2 piece design. Grab the down pipe with it. I've seem the manifold set go on E-bay for under $50.00.

By late model, what years to you mean? Will a new manifold fit on a 1988?

Thanks

I think the change-over was in 2000. The '00 up wranglers use the 2 piece design as well, but the down pipe is different. As I understand it, both intake and exhaust manifolds are interchangable across all years.

tbburg said:

I think the change-over was in 2000. The '00 up wranglers use the 2 piece design as well, but the down pipe is different. As I understand it, both intake and exhaust manifolds are interchangable across all years.

Click to expand...

you or anyone else have personal sucess with this? if this is true its music to my ears

i know from experience right now that the exhaust ports on a 0630 head are a different shape then the 0331 head that im replacing. but intake are all good.