Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Crack kills ... exhaust manifolds

In attempting to solve my emissions issue on my '95 Sidekick (aka the "Teal Terror"), I discovered this: a cracked exhaust manifold. Great. Here are my options: Have it welded, find another manifold, or buy a header. Welding will probably require it to be welded again in the future. Buying another manifold (e.g. used) has the possibility to develop a crack, assuming I can even find one. A header, the most expensive option, will likely be the best option. I have until July 21 to get the car through emissions and to get it registered. We'll see.

In other Teal Terror news, my buddy and I did a compression test, and things are OK. The results were:

#1 179 psi
#2 160 psi
#3 181 psi
#4 168 psi

Minimum psi should be 170, but hey, this thing has 140,000 miles on it. I'm not going to be too concerned. Timing was spot on, which is great. However, that cracked manifold isn't going to help get through emissions. Heck, maybe that's actually the problem?

1 comment:

Ellie said...

Iv just had to get my cracked exhaust manifold welded! Good luck! :)