2019 - Cracked Exhaust Manifold - Replacement Options?

[stebo]

I finally tore into my 2019 Ram 5th Gen Hemi that has had some exhaust leaks since about the 37K mile mark (at least). The truck currently has 66K and sounds like an old beater. I had assumed the ticking that I could hear under the hood were broken exhaust manifold bolts, but after investigating that a little bit, I determined that was not the case. I also had a broken bolt where the intermediate pipe joins the resonator, causing an exhaust leak. I fixed that and then turned my attention back to the leak under the hood. After pulling the passenger tire, wheel liner and manifold heat shield, I found a crack in the exhaust manifold. My question is, what is the best option to fix this? The cheapest option is to replace with stock manifolds. I don't want to do that though, as I feel I will have the same issue again, down the road. The second cheapest option is aftermarket manifolds. Does anyone have experience with Dorman replacement manifolds? Third option would be to install shorty headers. This is the option I am leaning towards, but really don't want to spend that much. I do plan on having the truck for several more years though, so maybe it will be worth it. This option also sounds like a painful install. Just looking for your opinions and experiences with the same issue. If I go the shorty header route, which ones do you recommend? I love the truck, but between the exhaust leaks and water leaks, I'm getting a bit frustrated. Thanks in advance!

 

[WXman]

I can't believe that all these years later the Hemi has the same issues it's always had.

 

[stebo]

I can't believe that all these years later the Hemi has the same issues it's always had.

At least my manifold bolts aren't broken! Lol. Dealt with that twice on my 4th gen.

 

[WXman]

How much more are the shorty headers? Twice as much? Three times as much?

If it's not a substantial difference in cost I'd do the shorties. I assume those are stainless and would cure this problem forever.

 

[stebo]

Shorties are about 4-5 times the cost of manifolds.

 

[WXman]

Out of curiosity I started shopping and yep, $900 for a set of stainless shorties. A few brands to choose. Goodness, that is pricey.

If mine cracked though and I had no warranty I do think I'd spend the money if I had it to never worry with manifolds again.

 

[Clv22p]

I can't believe that all these years later the Hemi has the same issues it's always had.

It used to be broken bolts, they fixed that, and now the manifolds just break!

 

[yankeefan31569]

.....at 39k last year

 

[stebo]

.....at 39k last year

That's the same bolt that broke on me too!! You have a lot of thread showing to grab on to, at least. I had to have my buddy use his acetylene torch to get it hot enough to back it out. Propane torch wouldn't get it hot enough.

 

[StuartV]

My 4th Gen (2009) had 193K miles on it when I traded it for my '19.

The '09 was repaired at least 5 times (6, I think) for exhaust leaks. Mostly, it was broken bolts, but at least once it was a cracked manifold. Fortunately, all those repairs were covered under warranty for me.

I traded my '09 for a new '19, and then traded the '19 in 2 weeks ago with 72K miles on it.

The '19 had an exhaust leak at around 48K mi. They said it was the exhaust manifold. When I traded it in (at 72K miles) it was starting to sound like it had another exhaust leak.

I traded the '19 in for a '21 EcoDiesel. At least I shouldn't have exhaust leaks to worry about anymore... LOL!

When I bought my '19, I thought for SURE that after 10 years of it, RAM would have figured out and fixed the exhaust leak issue on the Hemi motors.... Nope...!

 

[WXman]

So judging by all the guys who've done the repairs themselves, I assume this manifold issue isn't covered under the factory 60k warranty. That's odd.

 

[Clv22p]

It would/should be. I think most are over that mileage or timeframe. Lots of 2019s that were purchased in 2018 are now out of warranty. We are almost 3/4 through the people who bought in 2019 (2020 model) as well

 

[yankeefan31569]

I had a small garage down by me do my
exhaust pipe, parts n labor was like $181

 

[Vulpes]

I finally tore into my 2019 Ram 5th Gen Hemi that has had some exhaust leaks since about the 37K mile mark (at least). The truck currently has 66K and sounds like an old beater. I had assumed the ticking that I could hear under the hood were broken exhaust manifold bolts, but after investigating that a little bit, I determined that was not the case. I also had a broken bolt where the intermediate pipe joins the resonator, causing an exhaust leak. I fixed that and then turned my attention back to the leak under the hood. After pulling the passenger tire, wheel liner and manifold heat shield, I found a crack in the exhaust manifold. My question is, what is the best option to fix this? The cheapest option is to replace with stock manifolds. I don't want to do that though, as I feel I will have the same issue again, down the road. The second cheapest option is aftermarket manifolds. Does anyone have experience with Dorman replacement manifolds? Third option would be to install shorty headers. This is the option I am leaning towards, but really don't want to spend that much. I do plan on having the truck for several more years though, so maybe it will be worth it. This option also sounds like a painful install. Just looking for your opinions and experiences with the same issue. If I go the shorty header route, which ones do you recommend? I love the truck, but between the exhaust leaks and water leaks, I'm getting a bit frustrated. Thanks in advance!View attachment 136406

As I learned form some folks wiser than myself, we have cast iron manifolds, aluminum heads and steel bolts, plus high temperatures, something was gonna break with all the varied thermal expansion rates of the different materials. The steel bars now installed on >2019 models along the manifold bolt holes mostly solved the broken bolts, but now result in cracked manfolds. Some suggestions from previous posts on the forum:
1 - The cast iron log has "twisted", that's why it cracked, and it is now done "twisting", so it could be brazed, or mig weled with nickel wire, and put back on the vehicle, probably with no further cracks or leaks. It may require surfacing on the gasket side.
2 - The crack could be widened and stuffed with JB Weld exhaust goo, not sure how effective this is.
3 - Buy a set of shorties and felpro gaskets and bolt them in. This installation video is for 2018 and earlier models, but it's basically the same as 2019 and later models:

4 - Put in stock exhaust manifolds and replace again in 30K-ish miles, don't forget the bars, or risk broken bolts.

 

[TEXAG]

My 2019 has 60,190 miles on it and the back bolt (the one that also holds the heatshield) broke on the passenger side manifold. Took it to the dealer since i was so close to the powertrain warranty, called FCA and they told me they would have covered the repair under "good faith" had I bought the truck from them new, but since I am the second owner I was not eligible for "good faith" lol. So I bought new bolts and gaskets from autozone and was about to replace the bolts myself when I suddenly got flashbacks of breaking a bolt off in the engine block of my 2016 ecodiesel when doing an EGR delete and ended up paying a shop $600 to extract it (they had to drop the transmission to reach it)..... so i returned the parts and let the dealer fix it same day but it cost me $964 . I did get a quote from a small shop for around $600 but they would need a week or so before they could get to it. My buddy's shop declined to do it. So the dealer won this time. I'll get my truck back later today, but this issue could still happen on the driver side and since they are using OEM bolts and whatnot it could happen again in a few years. Long term it would be nice to get some well made shorty headers that would hopefully not have this issue.

 

[bigdodge]

it would be nice if this turns out to be true, even if it is only a tsb

Exhaust manifold recall

I just discovered my passenger side exhaust manifold was leaking. I called my local dealer to schedule an appointment. The service advisor told me that a recall for the exhaust manifolds is to start sometime in September. He stated that it is to be a redesigned exhaust manifold installed with...

5thgenrams.com

 

[TEXAG]

it would be nice if this turns out to be true, even if it is only a tsb

Exhaust manifold recall

I just discovered my passenger side exhaust manifold was leaking. I called my local dealer to schedule an appointment. The service advisor told me that a recall for the exhaust manifolds is to start sometime in September. He stated that it is to be a redesigned exhaust manifold installed with...

5thgenrams.com

Thanks for sharing this i hadnt seen it. Will bring it up at the dealer and see if they have anymore info on it

 

[Vulpes]

My 2019 has 60,190 miles on it and the back bolt (the one that also holds the heatshield) broke on the passenger side manifold. Took it to the dealer since i was so close to the powertrain warranty, called FCA and they told me they would have covered the repair under "good faith" had I bought the truck from them new, but since I am the second owner I was not eligible for "good faith" lol. So I bought new bolts and gaskets from autozone and was about to replace the bolts myself when I suddenly got flashbacks of breaking a bolt off in the engine block of my 2016 ecodiesel when doing an EGR delete and ended up paying a shop $600 to extract it (they had to drop the transmission to reach it)..... so i returned the parts and let the dealer fix it same day but it cost me $964 . I did get a quote from a small shop for around $600 but they would need a week or so before they could get to it. My buddy's shop declined to do it. So the dealer won this time. I'll get my truck back later today, but this issue could still happen on the driver side and since they are using OEM bolts and whatnot it could happen again in a few years. Long term it would be nice to get some well made shorty headers that would hopefully not have this issue.

View attachment 138143

That sucks! Although, you could drive it like that a long time. But it's a good break, once the manifold is pulled, probably will come out with a set of vice grips, should be plenty of bolt to grab a hold of.

I can tell you that JBA shorties are basically a bolt-in, have been on the truck in the picture below for a week and a half with no leaks and are doable on a long Saturday in a driveway (broken bolts might put you into Sunday).

Based on other posts on this forum, shorties are a way to solve the continually cracking manifolds and the occasional broken bolt. As for dealerships, I'd rather have a kick to the groin, and I have experienced both...

 

[TEXAG]

That sucks! Although, you could drive it like that a long time. But it's a good break, once the manifold is pulled, probably will come out with a set of vice grips, should be plenty of bolt to grab a hold of.

I can tell you that JBA shorties are basically a bolt-in, have been on the truck in the picture below for a week and a half with no leaks and are doable on a long Saturday in a driveway (broken bolts might put you into Sunday).

Based on other posts on this forum, shorties are a way to solve the continually cracking manifolds and the occasional broken bolt. As for dealerships, I'd rather have a kick to the groin, and I have experienced both...

View attachment 138158

Man i really appreciate this info. Im the same way i typically avoid the dealer, i let them do it since they had the bolts and gaskets in stock and i simply wanted my truck back. Youre right though, my cousin thinks his manifold on his 2012 has been leaking for 50k miles. If (more like when) it happens again i am definitely going to get a set of the JBA’s and either do it myself or have my buddy’s shop do it. I was alittle hesitant on the quality of the JBA’s. But im glad they worked for you. Did you have to bend the dip stick or do anything to make room on the driver side?

 

[Vulpes]

Man i really appreciate this info. Im the same way i typically avoid the dealer, i let them do it since they had the bolts and gaskets in stock and i simply wanted my truck back. Youre right though, my cousin thinks his manifold on his 2012 has been leaking for 50k miles. If (more like when) it happens again i am definitely going to get a set of the JBA’s and either do it myself or have my buddy’s shop do it. I was alittle hesitant on the quality of the JBA’s. But im glad they worked for you. Did you have to bend the dip stick or do anything to make room on the driver side?

No problem, happy to help. I thought the JBA's were fine, thick flange, right at 3/8", welds were all closed, no modifiications needed, some spatter inside, but meh, it's not a race car.

The dipstick tube has two brackets: upper one bolts to the upper left manifold/header bolt and the other lower bracket is buried deep under the engine mount.

Don't bother with the lower dipstick bracket, the headers will weasel their way into place with just the uppr dipstick bracket undone. Use an approximately 3/4" spacer and one of the original manfold bolts to attach the upper dipstick bracket.

Here is a picture of the header weaseling it's way into place, with the dipstick still in place, just be careful not to bend or crease the tube. Oh yeah! do the driver's side first, then the passenger side will feel like a cake walk.