Crown or OEM exhaust manifold replacement for 3.8L?

nmwranglerx

nmwranglerx

Caught the Bug
Crown is about $70 and OEM is $160. Anyone replace theirs with the Crown? If so, how's it holding up? I already took the old manifold off yesterday, just wondering about what to replace with. I'm sticking with OEM style replacement btw (no RIPP long headers, Gibson, etc). I"m wondering about quality of the Crown vs. OEM
 
nmwranglerx said:
Crown is about $70 and OEM is $160. Anyone replace theirs with the Crown? If so, how's it holding up? I already took the old manifold off yesterday, just wondering about what to replace with. I'm sticking with OEM style replacement btw (no RIPP long headers, Gibson, etc). I"m wondering about quality of the Crown vs. OEM
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On my 08 I replaced them with the Crown ones. Quality seemed fine, traded the jeep in a year later.
 
nmwranglerx said:
Crown is about $70 and OEM is $160. Anyone replace theirs with the Crown? If so, how's it holding up? I already took the old manifold off yesterday, just wondering about what to replace with. I'm sticking with OEM style replacement btw (no RIPP long headers, Gibson, etc). I"m wondering about quality of the Crown vs. OEM
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Crown is cheaper oem parts. I use crown for all oem parts I need to replace with stock
 
I used Dorman as I didn't have many options for CA compliant exhuast manifolds. I paid $230 for both which included gaskets and some of the bolts. They seem well made but haven't had them on long enough to really see how they stand up over time.
 
thanks everyone. I went ahead and ordered the Crown manifold. Guess I'll see how it works out. I couldn't bring myself to spend close to $200 on the OEM one.
 
I had Crowns on my 07 after the header nightmare( no matter what people tell you Don't run headers on the 3.8) amd they worked just as good as the OEM ones and I ran them for a year before I traded the jeep in on my 15.


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HogBlock said:
I had Crowns on my 07 after the header nightmare( no matter what people tell you Don't run headers on the 3.8) amd they worked just as good as the OEM ones and I ran them for a year before I traded the jeep in on my 15.


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Good to know. Thanks for the report out. I have no idea how long the manifolds been cracked. I'm at around 77K miles now and could here the ticking noise. The other side is probably cracked too and it looks to be a lot harder to get it out than driver side.


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nmwranglerx said:
Good to know. Thanks for the report out. I have no idea how long the manifolds been cracked. I'm at around 77K miles now and could here the ticking noise. The other side is probably cracked too and it looks to be a lot harder to get it out than driver side.


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I'm curious of what it sounds like. Could you hear it in the cab while accelerating? Specially under load/ up hills?
 
silverbullet88 said:
I'm curious of what it sounds like. Could you hear it in the cab while accelerating? Specially under load/ up hills?
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The best way I can describe it is a slight ticking noise which could be louder depending on the size of the crack or cracks. Noticeable when jeep is running and you are standing next to the engine compartment. I don't know what the percentage is of people who have a cracked manifold but I would say it's pretty high on the early year 3.8's. Here's a shot of mine.

Image1492282006.194221.jpg


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You can also suck a little seafoam through your brake booster hose. If you have a cracked manifold you'll see smoke coming shooting out.
 
Got to work on changing the drivers manifold today. It's been cracked for awhile, but I didn't know it was this bad! Gonna let it soak in penitrant oil overnight. IMG_20170518_161307_799.jpg

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That looks knarley. I swapped out the driver side a few weeks back. So far, so good. The passenger side is likely cracked to but much more difficult to get at to even check.


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I replaced my drivers side with a dorman manifold about a month ago.I had to take a die grinder to the ports,one port opening (the worst )was about the size of a quarter.From what I read
on internet searches this is par for the course on dorman manifolds and some people run them this way and I would strongly advise against that. Other than the port opening being unmachined
the dorman manifold is a lot heavier casting than the stock manifold so hopefully will hold up to the heat longer.
 
Got to work on it this morning. Was easier than I thought. The back bolt was broken, not sure how. So I removed the remaining broken piece, and used a matching bolt I had to replace it with.
20170519_095032.jpeg
Installed, took the pic before reinstalling the heat shields.
20170519_102313.jpeg

No more exhaust noise or smell, and I think it's running better!

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rinkishjk said:
Got to work on it this morning. Was easier than I thought. The back bolt was broken, not sure how. So I removed the remaining broken piece, and used a matching bolt I had to replace it with.
View attachment 259319
Installed, took the pic before reinstalling the heat shields.
View attachment 259320

No more exhaust noise or smell, and I think it's running better!

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Looks good. I had a broken bolt (the head) as well. I was wondering why that happened? I've had the jeep since 21 K miles. I doubt someone had replaced the manifold before I bought the jeep. Did the bolt head just pop off?
 
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