Warped manifold?! (darn it!)

From : jmc

Q: so i finally got the truck in to have the manifold gasket replaced per my posts a little bit ago. walked to the mechanics this afternoon to find my truck still in the shop with the hood up. he was supposed to call if it wasnt ready! ah well. he said the manifold was warped and hed sent it out to have it machined. that was done and the truck will be ready tomorrow. in my short google excursion i saw that warped manifolds are usually replaced. but this is outback australia and replacing parts aint always easy and doubly hard for a yank tank so i imaging machining is probably the norm around here. but for my particular truck 2001 dakota should i be concerned will a freshly machined manifold be as good as new are there consequences to this i should know about and how does a manifold warp anyway was it likely always that way and the gaskets just gotten old enough for me to notice the tik and could a warped manifold cause the p0455 code exhaust leak the mechanic didnt seem to think replacing the gasket would fix the leak... as always any advice appreciated. jmc if a good machinist does the job it should be fine. warped manifolds assuming exhaust manifold since i missed your previous post are usually caused by extreme changes in temperature but can just happen from normal usage in rare cases. it could have been an improperly machined manifold right from the start and the gasket hid the problem for the most part but you had some small leakage causing your code. i would assume that the mechanic pre-mounted the manifold and saw some daylight between it and the block and decided to fix the problem the right way instead of just covering the problem with another gasket. this is probably the most likely scenerio because a very small leak may not be noticeable until it finally just blows the gasket completely. ed .

Replies:

From : denny

i agree with you both had my truck been a newer one. however with 90k miles on it i only wanted a few more miles from it - not have the rear end out last the rest of the truck. i also failed to mention that the dealership failed to put the drive shaft back on correctly and in a very short time 2-3 days ended up doing the work again because the new pinion bearing and drive shaft both failed from the vibration. that was dangerous. in response to mike s post. i thought everyone should know most likely it is in tat area. i know of several differential rebuilds from myself and friends. the pinion bearing has gone out in each case. you dont need the entire rear end rebuilt as we did we didnt know. i told the dealership that if they didnt save all the parts for me i was not going to pay. the parts are all fine except the pinion bearing - shot. that cost me $1300 for being stupid and in a hurry. i know now that i could have 1. done it myself; or 2. had another reputable place do the work for much less. i talked to this place after the fact and he said it was common for dealerships to do this - lots of hours = lots of $$$ its common for dearlerships to do that because they have to stand behind their work. if the failed pinion bearing allows the pinion to move around in relation to the ring gear it can cause an abnormal wear pattern. in some cases you actually hear the ring and pinion howling because of poor gear tooth contact not the bad bearing. if you just replace the bearings and re-use the ring and pinion it will be noisy. now you have to take everything apart again to replace the ring and pinion. when any bearing in a differential fails it usually sends metal particles through the entire axle housing. if you look closely at the bearing surfaces you will see the metal particles embedded in the bearing races and rollers. it is not uncommon to see particles of the failed bearing embedded in the ring and pinion gear teeth also. that is the reason why most reputable shops will replace everything. at the very least you must replace all the bearings and flush out the axle housing if you want the job done right. in complete agreement here. -- chris .

From : roy

is there a common cause for this code it has gotten to the point that within a day or so the code shows again after i reset the dtcs. was just wondering if you guys have seen it to be one thing more than another. -- ------------------------------------------ laszlo almasi ----cool toys formerly carolina watercraft works ----mack daddy trailers ----ice angels .

From : roy

most likely it is in tat area. i know of several differential rebuilds from myself and friends. the pinion bearing has gone out in each case. you dont need the entire rear end rebuilt as we did we didnt know. i told the dealership that if they didnt save all the parts for me i was not going to pay. the parts are all fine except the pinion bearing - shot. that cost me $1300 for being stupid and in a hurry. i know now that i could have 1. done it myself; or 2. had another reputable place do the work for much less. i talked to this place after the fact and he said it was common for dealerships to do this - lots of hours = lots of $$$ .bob wrote yamaha700@shaw.ca wrote i have a 06 dakota quad cab slt 4x4 with 4.7l engine with 3.55 limited slip rearend. whenever the truck is warmed up there is a very noticeable clunk whenever the truck is shifted into neutral or park from any gear any ideas also when going into reverse there is a slight clunk and then a whirring type whine. about 60-80 km/h there is a howling noise comes and goes with throttle position coasting- howl stops ease on the gas howl comes back. the truck was in at the dealer and they reprogrammed the transmission the dealer said that the noiseclunking and reverse engagement are normal! they said the howling is tire noise but yet the howling doesnt change with changes in road surface. should i get a 2nd opinion from a driveline shop or qustion the dealer more any ideas or answers are appreciated!! those are usually symptoms of a bad differential. park the truck on a flat surface. put it in neutral and set the parking brake. now put it in park. crawl under the truck and grab the drive shaft. try and turn it with your hand. differential end play is measured in thousands of an inch. if you can move the drive shaft a noticable amount the diff is toast. or its just loose universal joints. -- ken .

From : jmc

if you have to pull the head to drill out a broken one and be sure to use anti seize compound on the threads. steve that would be my thoughts exactly. since he lives he did i miss something ah he just doesnt know me jmc very true. i am fairly new here and am just getting to know folks. sorry if i mis-gendered you jmc........- ed speaking of gender watch out for the rabbit. we are still trying to figure that one out.bfg da wabbit has a gender does a food processor really have a gender with that belly how can he tell vbg fmb north mexico . 222 339114 e9d$46ea9e7a$471d922e$32283@alltel.net in response to carolina watercraft works s post. i thought everyone should know is there a common cause for this code it has gotten to the point that within a day or so the code shows again after i reset the dtcs. was just wondering if you guys have seen it to be one thing more than another. check all your hoses going to and from the evap canister on the left hand frame rail under the truck irrc thats the location of it ive found a ton of cracked hoses there in the past also check to make sure you have your gas cap tight. check all the vac lines ect. thats the code for a large leak so you should be able to find it with a through visual inspection gas cap could be bad not sure how youd know that without a smoke machine though worse comes to worse get denny to sneak the smoke machine out of the shop under his ear or soemthing so you can use it for a few min *snicker* -- chris .

From : fmb

in response to napalmheart s post. i thought everyone should know on sep 13 724am john carrington wb2...@stny.rr.com wrote i have a photo of my grandfathers car circa 1930. do you know a site or group where i may upload a .jpg file to get the vehicle identified tia john why not post it here for a starter bob az because this is a text group use photobucket or another free picture hosting site then post the links. we can use them to view the pictures and see if any of us can identify the vehicle in questions besides we like old cars as much as the next group even if we cant ident it = -- chris .

From : ed m

suddenly without warning roy exclaimed 9/13/2007 339 am it is a much more common problem than it once was because of modern casting techniques. the new processes allow much thinner and lighter castings but this by itself wouldnt be an issue if the casting was annealed before they machine it. of course that costs money and it isnt done. the newly machined manifold is actually better than a new one because your useage has already annealed the casting and it will not move again. in point of fact a gasket will not be necessary at all. however i would replace the studs as a matter of common sense. it costs very little when they are whole but very expensive if you have to pull the head to drill out a broken one and be sure to use anti seize compound on the threads. steve that would be my thoughts exactly. since he lives he did i miss something ah he just doesnt know me jmc very true. i am fairly new here and am just getting to know folks. sorry if i mis-gendered you jmc........- ed speaking of gender watch out for the rabbit. we are still trying to figure that one out.bfg da wabbit has a gender with that belly how can he tell vbg fmb north mexico .

From : jmc

i have a 06 dakota quad cab slt 4x4 with 4.7l engine with 3.55 limited slip rearend. whenever the truck is warmed up there is a very noticeable clunk whenever the truck is shifted into neutral or park from any gear any ideas also when going into reverse there is a slight clunk and then a whirring type whine. about 60-80 km/h there is a howling noise comes and goes with throttle position coasting- howl stops ease on the gas howl comes back. the truck was in at the dealer and they reprogrammed the transmission the dealer said that the noiseclunking and reverse engagement are normal! they said the howling is tire noise but yet the howling doesnt change with changes in road surface. should i get a 2nd opinion from a driveline shop or qustion the dealer more any ideas or answers are appreciated!! put the rear end up on jack stands and run it. of course chock the front wheels. youll eliminate the tire noise issue. as ken said it could be u joints or you could have more than one thing causing the noise. .

From : roy

jmc wrote per another recent post i had the truck in to replace a manifold gasket only to find that the exhaust manifold itself was warped. did that fix the tick tick tick noise did i win ;^ -- ken .

From : ed m

on wed 12 sep 2007 002810 -0400 tom lawrence tnooms4p8a8m@meimnbgaarlqlmoawield.com wrote 6.5 of sidewall isnt exactly limited.... in fact its barely less sidewall then on a stock 16 tire from earlier years my 95 3500 came stock with 215/85r16s which had 7.1 of sidewall on a much heavier vehicle. in theory you are correct but in pratice the average clearnace in less because of normal tire deflection underload and is likley around 5.5 inches or a bit less which is not much for a big heavy tire on a big heavy vehicle and a unexpected chuck hole. wheel rim companies have got to love them because they get to still extra wheel from raod damage that they would not sell otherwise. 60s are kinda border line tires in this regard. ----------------- thesnoman.com .

From : steve lusardi

suddenly without warning chris thompson exclaimed 9/11/2007 940 pm ed the warped manifold on a dakota v6 is common done lots of them and the broken studs too. mines a v8 sorry forgot to mention but good info anyway. jmc .

From : jmc

just received my yellow ram cc sport 4x4 added daytona wing and will add front air dam tonneau cover spring assist shocks - rear bed and hood strips are done along with a rear window business graphic and tinted front side windows and replaced mirrors with factory tow mirrors- but 1 anyone have a set of new take off black nerfs or running boards 2 looking at gerloc ab exhaust any experience with this dual exhuast 3 need to find instructions to make foglamps work on low beam like the 05 daytona i also have... 4 love to lower front 2-3 - and now that radious arm setup is finally gone... any ideas except spindle kits. 5 got 15.5 on the first tank of gas. 6 20 raised letter tires are nice hope they last better than the daytonas goodyears i need to buy quart of the detonator yellow dealer said he cant get it or sell it ideas more to come thanks for all your help. dudlee brennfoerder www.batteriesareus.com home of the 16 volt racing battery -- more information at http//www.talkaboutautos.com/faq.html .

From : aarcuda69062

http//www.stockinteriors.com/headlineradhesive.asp i had the one in my sons truck previous owner was a heavy smoker for around $85 installed. the visors were $15-20 each. i just steam cleaned them. the heat will play a number on that stuff as well as the paint. my question is why is it that most other vehicles hold up and dodge does not i also know the clear coat is so thin that it makes me wonder how they even got a shine from a coat of paint that thin. napalmheart olsonfam@iserv.net wrote in ed m. ed@edmedlin.com wrote in abby.normal wrote coming off an 03 did you ever wax it in direct sunlight yeah all my dakotas did that but the truck is worth it. i got an estimate for repainting the hood and roof for $600 and did it myself for $250. paints bubbling and flaking off on my black 03 dak leaving rough white discolored areas on the roof and hood. of course clearcoats totally gone in those areas. havent been able to find it so far but is there a warranty period for the paint theres no rust only paint problems. tia. have you been using a buffer on it jam that was my first thought. many folks take their vehicles to detailers and they have some kid with a buffer doing it and it scares the hell out of me.......-. buffing out a vehicle is a very touchy job to do and sometimes can take the clear coat right off a vehicle if not done properly. ed no buffer. just the occasional hand-applied meguiars in the garage. its just a crappy paint job. and now the headliners coming down to boot. glues disintegrating and the headliners drooping. south florida sun is killer but any vehicle sold in this country should be able to withstand the elements for at least 4 years. mine simply didnt. concerning the headliner does this vehicle regularly have someone smoking in it stuff in the smoke can cause the glue to breakdown. the headliner in my dak is starting to sag no smokers but its a 97. ken nobodys ever smoked in the truck and im the original owner. i suspect its sagging from the heat just like the paint. the areas right in front of the visors near the windshield is coming down as is the whole area above the front seats. the rear is ok because its got a bit more breathing space between the actual roof and the headliner back there its a cc. one of these days ill remove the headliner and redo it. joann fabrics has spools of headliner material ready to go - all id need is the glue and the time to redo everything. .

From : jmc

in response to ed m. s post. i thought everyone should know so i finally got the truck in to have the manifold gasket replaced per my posts a little bit ago. walked to the mechanics this afternoon to find my truck still in the shop with the hood up. he was supposed to call if it wasnt ready! ah well. he said the manifold was warped and hed sent it out to have it machined. that was done and the truck will be ready tomorrow. in my short google excursion i saw that warped manifolds are usually replaced. but this is outback australia and replacing parts aint always easy and doubly hard for a yank tank so i imaging machining is probably the norm around here. but for my particular truck 2001 dakota should i be concerned will a freshly machined manifold be as good as new are there consequences to this i should know about and how does a manifold warp anyway was it likely always that way and the gaskets just gotten old enough for me to notice the tik and could a warped manifold cause the p0455 code exhaust leak the mechanic didnt seem to think replacing the gasket would fix the leak... as always any advice appreciated. jmc

From : chris thompson

yes. also to prevent cross talk from the cb to other things like your stereo when you key up. not saying that you will have an if you hook up the way the op is but even a lot of your cheap radio shack brand cb even tell you in the instructions like men read them that you should hook it direct to the battery. instructions what is this thing you speak of- hide quoted text - - show quoted text - umm not sure i have heard the term before but not sure what it actually is. crosstalk is any phenomenon by which a signal transmitted on one circuit creates an undesired effect in another. this can occur if the wire that you have connected the cb up to is insufficient in size to carry the max load of the cb and whatever else is connected to it causing a voltage drop. the current load of a cb can get quite high and is directly proportional to the amount of modulation you speaking that the transmitter is transmitting which will cause the voltage drop to modulate as well. this rapidly varying voltage drop can negatively affect other components on the circuit although i doubt that the cigarette lighter circuit is one that you would have to worry much about as it already is a high current capable circuit with not much on it. -- if at first you dont succeed youre not cut out for skydiving . 222 339016 xns99a859c9d2f0nospamforme@216.77.188.18 abby.normal back.off@nospam.net wrote in i too like the ram but its too much truck for me. thats why i went for the dakota 3rd. one now. the new dakota with the v6 is way under powered. when i test drove it i felt like the brake was on. the new 4.7l v8 is adequate but thats it and nothing more. why not the hemi i have no idea. it isnt that much larger and form what i see should fit. heck ive seen a viper 8.3l v10 in a jeep wrangler so i know it can happen http//www.4wdandsportutility.com/features/jeep/07104wd2006 jeepwran glerv10/index.html neat conversion on the jeep. the daks a bit too small now the passenger side is tiny so id be interested in a ram. ive got an r/t with a 360 so theres plenty of torque. i can only imagine what a slug a 6 would be especially in a ram. the v6 in a ram must feel worse than the v6 in the dakota. as for the paint i take pretty good care of all my vehicles and just dont have an explanation as to why the paint goes to crap after so many years. i could see so many years like maybe 10 but four years no way. its just a crappy paint job. i can only point to not enough uv clear on top. my 98 has such a thin coat of clear that if i use finesse-it 3m clear coat final polishing solution to remove any hair line scratch that it almost immediately cuts through the clear and into the paint. on an after market clear coat paint job i can use this chemical all day long and never get into the paint. in fact on the paint i squirted on my 55 chevy i used the 3 levels of this type compound to color sand it for more than a week and never got close to the paint. on my 98 dakota it will take less that 2 minutes. i cant even figure out how they manage to get it that thin in the first place but they do. my only hope on my 07 dakota is that the germans taught mopar how to paint a vehicle. the paint looks thicker anyway. for your sake i hope so... ; its weird - my neighbor has an 02 ram red and its gorgeous. sits out in 90-degree-plus sunshine every day just like mine and his paints beautiful. i love the truck but some stuff on it is just garbage. abby.normal back.off@nospam.net wrote in i know that dodge has never learned to paint a vehicle. ive seen that happen on a lot of them. the paint sort of wears off. they dont put enough clear on and the clear they use must be cheap. once you get it repainted by someone that does know how to paint it will last. i had a 1988 pontiac do that and gm repainted it all for free. dodge would never consider that. they dont even recall anything until the maximum allowed people have been killed first. all in all i still think they are a pretty nice vehicle. although after this last crap they offered i am changing next time around. they just offered free lifetime drive train warranties on everything purchased after sep. something this year. i just spend over $40 on two new vehicles from dodge/chrysler and do not qualify because i purchased them both just about a month or so prior to them making that offer. im done buying from them now. gm would have made that reasonably retroactive. ford is simply crap in every aspect - dont even go down that road without a full box of tools towing insurance and a cell phone. nope only waxed in the garage. but it stays out in the south florida sun all the time. still... abby.normal back.off@nospam.net wrote in coming off an 03 did you ever wax it in direct sunlight yeah all my dakotas did that but the truck is worth it. i got an estimate for repai

From : ed m

if a good machinist does the job it should be fine. warped manifolds assuming exhaust manifold since i missed your previous post are usually caused by extreme changes in temperature but can just happen from normal usage in rare cases. it could have been an improperly machined manifold right from the start and the gasket hid the problem for the most part but you had some small leakage causing your code. i would assume that the mechanic pre-mounted the manifold and saw some daylight between it and the block and decided to fix the problem the right way instead of just covering the problem with another gasket. this is probably the most likely scenerio because a very small leak may not be noticeable until it finally just blows the gasket completely. ed ed the warped manifold on a dakota v6 is common done lots of them and the broken studs too. -- chris . 222 339013 hgvfi.7540$z5.132@nlpi069.nbdc.sbc.com abby.normal wrote coming off an 03 did you ever wax it in direct sunlight yeah all my dakotas did that but the truck is worth it. i got an estimate for repainting the hood and roof for $600 and did it myself for $250. paints bubbling and flaking off on my black 03 dak leaving rough white discolored areas on the roof and hood. of course clearcoats totally gone in those areas. havent been able to find it so far but is there a warranty period for the paint theres no rust only paint problems. tia. have you been using a buffer on it jam that was my first thought. many folks take their vehicles to detailers and they have some kid with a buffer doing it and it scares the hell out of me.......-. buffing out a vehicle is a very touchy job to do and sometimes can take the clear coat right off a vehicle if not done properly. ed .