Have an '02 S/C SE 4WD. Annoying sound coming from the engine compartment was confirmed to be cracked manifolds on BOTH Sides.

Dealer is quoting about $1300 to replace both sides. $1000 of this is labor. They said its because it's 4WD they have to remove a lot of crap to get it replaced.

Am I getting raped on labor?

Yes.

Well, considering that dealers charge around $95 an hour, this comes out to 10.5 hours of labor?

Sounds like they are taking their time doing it.

And mildly violated on the parts too.

What does 4WD have to do with it? Unless they're planning to come from below, removing the transfer case first and working their way up. Which would also explain the price.

They only cost ~$100 each or so with a new gasket at the discounted parts houses.

What I find a bit odd is the claim there both cracked?…although possible most of time its just one side, passenger side seems to be the most popular.

I don’t know what the book/labor hrs billable is for manifolds but > 3hrs labor per side seems unreasonable to me.

I took a look at mine the other day and they definitely don't look as easy to get to as I first thought!

You could do it yourself assuming you have the time and patience! Not easy though!

3 hours is not unreasonable per side. I did my drivers side a few weeks with the help of a Nissan tech friend. It took us about 3 1/2 hours because one of the exhaust shield bolt stripped out.

Not that much has to come off but it you break a stud you're in for a long day. It helps to have a body lift. I replaced the passenger side over 2 years ago.

Parts are just over $100 per side if your order online.

Ok, I have some info for you guys. I had this problem A while back. Passenger side manifold was visibly cracked. One way you can tell for yourself is to take off the heat shields; I would recommend doing this if you are weary of what the dealer is telling you. It is very simple, all 10mm bolts. You can get them out very easily. Then once they are off examine the manifold. I mentioned in one other post, take a rag to the back of the car and hold it over the exhaust and push it to create pressure. The rag is to stop it from burning you. Have somebody listen on the right and the left of the engine while it is running; you will be able to tell which one is leaking if not both. I picked up the manifold that was cracked from my dealer but if you get discount parts do that. You will also need some spare studs and nuts, the ones that bolt up to the CAT assembly. This is just incase any strip out. I did have this problem. No worries I got it fixed. One other tip, Make sure you put all the little 10mm bolts back in or it will still leak. Some of the bolt holes go into the CAT. Use lots of PB blaster or rust inhibitor. Yu should be able to gain access to the manifolds throught the fenders and the top of the engine. There is no need to do otherwise.....

Good info Andrew.. thanks!

I know mine are cracked... will have to replace them before my next inspection in April.

I recomend DIY, if you can change oil you can do it. just make sure you use the PB blaster and you get extra studs and nuts just incase. If you take your time it might take you a saturday. If you need help.....

each and every job has a pre determined amount of labor hrs attached to it. thats how mechs make money, if your fast you eat, if your slow you starve.

ie, job gets 2.5 hrs labor, if it take the mech 40 min. then he makes out, if it takes the same mech 5 hrs he is losing money.

I see what you are saying. It's still a rip-off in any case.

yes i agree.

It's called "Flat Rate" hours. It IS an average, most techs are faster. You have the power, as the consumer, to shop around.

My passenger manifold was $68 on nissanparts.cc

If I didn't strip a darn stud on the cat-to-manifold interface I would have gotten that one done in a few hours. Instead the ordeal took me two weeks to do fitting it in around having to work all the time.

Oh, and being a 4wd doesn't change anything in the exhaust system or access to the parts that are there. That is a line of BS.

The difficulty arises because of limited access to the bolts that hold the manifold on. I had to take each exhaust joint apart all the way back to the crossover pipe to get enough wiggle room to get to the rearmost bolt.

well coming from a tech, paying $95 an hour is a rip off, my dealership charges $65 an hour. but the tech doesnot see all the money i only make 22.50 an hour so the dealer gets the rest for doing nothing.but anywase, the manifolds aren't that hard i go through the top for the passenger but for the drivers i have to go through the bottom. you can do it yourself but plan on taking a good part of the day and start with the drivers side, its the hardest.

In 12/04 I had a check engine light which ended up being a bad catalytic converter. That was covered under the 80,000 mile warranty, but when they had it apart the noticed the driver side manifold was cracked. Since everything was apart for the warranty repair, they charged me the supposed discounted rate of $348.51 to replace the cracked manifold. $100.65 for the part, $219.75 for labor, and $17.98 for misc shop supplies.

Now I have exhaust noise coming from the passenger side engine, and I take it in and they quote me $743 to replace the gasket on the passenger side. ARGH! They tell me I may also have a cracked manifold again, but they won't know till they dig deeper.

I am not the handy type, so fixing it myself is fairly out of the question. What can I do?

Oh and I also just paid $272.73 (also a supposed discounted price) for the normal 75,000 Class B Service. Everytime I take my vehicle in, I feel like I am being raped.