JB Weld on exhaust manifold? Other options?
 

2000 F150 4x4 ext cab 5.4L
Only 55,000 miles but a Wisconsin rusted truck. Owned 3 years and nothing but problems associated with age and rust. Had the right side exhaust manifold fixed at a shop two years ago and luckily went smooth. Was warned then that the job could be $600-1500 or 2000 if the studs break.
Now the left side is making noise at the manifold and basically same quote/warning from different town mechanic. I am tired of dumping money into this thing and need to stop the bleeding sometime. Was told that the condition should be OK for about 2-3 years but then could cause significant header problems soon after trashing the engine.
What other options are available for a cheap fix? Can I JB Weld the manifold back on?

Onto what? An aluminum cylinder head? No.

Post a photograph of the affected area. JB Weld epoxy, like other epoxy, is good stuff, but I don't know what temperature extremes it can withstand.

The deal with cast iron exhaust manifolds in your part of the country isn't necessarily salt corrosion, it is the sub-zero state of the cast iron when met with rapidly-increasing exhaust temperatures as the engine comes to normal operating temps. Something manifolds in southern climes don't have to deal with.

Fast forward to 8:45 and enjoy.....

"This is some straight-up used car salesman stuff right here"

:laughing:

Eric cracks me up.... funny dude! LOL.

He is. Thanks for that.


Wonder if our northern friend in the OP was able to salvage anything from this thread. I wonder, then, if he can't source salvage manifolds from a southern parts puller. I haven't been paying attention much to maintaining anything from the 2000 model year (but I'm a pretty good shadetree hack with Ford's Total Performance Era stuff), but I imagine an ex man swap on a non-turbo truck to be somewhat straightforward. We wish him luck.

:thumbsup:

I found a NIB manifold on Ebay for 25 bucks a while back..... haven't used it, but for the money I couldn't pass it. I know I'll need it someday.

I tried the JB weld for a temporary fix on my manifold - it worked! I had a piece of gasket blow out on the trailing end. I would suggest cleaning it well and using some reinforcing wire to hold it together, like rebar within the smooze. My JB weld repair lasted through the winter until I was ready to replace it last spring. As you can see the manifold failed in a different spot.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...b944eada5d.jpg

Well, will you look at that. Had to change my take on this one. How large an area of missing manifold one could repair with epoxy remains to be seen, and the rebar (sic) idea makes sense. Thanks, 7700, for your post!

I guess the takeaway here is that "you don't know until you try". :thumbsup:

FYI.... often times breaking manifolds and studs is due to a bad trans mount. When the trans mount fails, it sags and the Exhaust system takes the weight on when that happens. Rusted studs and manifolds break and crack at that point.