I left the Garden State of New Jersey 8 months ago and moved to Florida. My mechanic of 40 years doesn't want to relocate with me so now I've been to a few mechanics but don't feel comfortable with any of them. I know I need a new exhaust system because my mechanic told me it was on it's last legs. I just got an estimate of almost $5,000 to replace the entire exhaust from manifold to tail pipe. I know it's a NJ car so rust is an ever present problem that can make this a not so simple replacement.

I've never had to replace the entire exhaust but $5,000 seems a bit excessive. Granted it's a 2001 with 202k miles on it.

Any comments?

 

$5k is ludicrous. You can buy bolt-on hardware and do it yourself. Cost from $200 to $500 depending on quality. I did mine with cheap bolt on walker stuff for $180, everything from the manifold back including the cat. It was an MJ, so the tailpipe section was actually cheaper than the XJ for some reason. I used the wide clamp bands as well.

 

I believe your 2001 is CA Emissions so a shop will only replace your old cat with a CARB certified one. A CA cat runs around $800 for something like a Walker. A Magnaflow will run around $1200. So add a manifold, pipes, muffler, gaskets, clamps, etc and it could come to $1500-2000 depending on your source.

I've done the entire exhaust on my '88. Despite being a California car, it was still a pita. I don't want to imagine the job on a NJ car. I used to live in NYC so I know how bad they can get.

Anyway, I'd say $5000 is still way out of line. It sounds more like a "we really don't want to work on your XJ".

 

Here is what I know.
I replaced the entire exhaust, dual cat back, on my CA Emissions '00 about 8 years ago.
Now where I live I was able to use what I am going to call a CA Emissions not CARB cat.
Which is the cheaper one. I used the Walker 52304.
Used Walker parts for the rest too.
Well I know I didn't pay this much but I pretty much come up with $1000 out the door.
Between Amazon and the rear cat (resonator) that Amazon seemed to not have but RockAuto did.
Oh and that price did not include any shipping, if there is any, from RockAuto.
Now IMO there should be no reason to replace the 2 piece manifolds but.......
And I also bought new hardware from my dealership for where the front cat bolts to the exhaust manifold.
Want to say it ran me $34.
Then a few bucks for nuts and bolts.
Now they might be charging you for 4 new O2 sensors too.
I hacked off the exhaust up to the front cat.
Figured I would do a little housekeeping under there.
Then dropped it off a garage that is a customer of the Napa I retired out of.
Now I did get the friend and family discount.
Cost me $75 and that was with them taking the 2 downstream O2 sensors out of my old dual cat and putting them in the new one.
When they called to tell me they were done and what the price was I said that can't be right.
So I gave them $100.
LOL.
Now here is what I don't know.
Exactly what rules Florida plays by.
If you need a CARB certified cat then that will increase the price substantially.
Figure about $350.

Edit:
I also hung the rear hanger.
When a XJ does not have a gas tank skid plate there is only one nut strip in the passenger side for the exhaust hanger.
I was adding a gas tank skid so removed the bumper, threw in 2 new nut strips, hung the skid and the exhaust hanger.
My point is it was a little less for them to do so......

 

When someone prices something extremely high, it usually means they don't want to do the job, but will if they can make a lot of money off of it.

Get quotes from several different shops (mom and pop muffler shops, Midas, etc.)

The exhaust system won't be fun to do because of rust. If the exhaust manifold is part of the replacement, that will drive up the cost as well. There isn't anything difficult about an exhaust manifold replacement, but it's a bit time consuming. I would recommend a manifold with the accordian section for stress relief.

 

Keep in mind that a 2001 New Jersey xj has 3 cats, 2 close coupled off the manifold and one underfloor. Doesn't mean 5k$ but does cost.

Other than what someone told you why do you think it's on its last legs and does all of it need to be replaced?
Maybe start by buying a flashlight.....😉

 

Thanks for the slap in the face. It's a good wake up call.

I've seen pictures of the problem areas and some welding has been done to repair broken flanges in the past. My old mechanic said it would need to be replaced at some point. Not sure if the manifold needs replacing but everything else needs it. Since I'm living in an apartment with no place to work on it and no tools I'm stuck with either replacing the XJ with something new or spending lots of cash to repair it. I think in the long run it will be more cost effective to fix the old girl despite my wife's urgings to get something new

Meanwhile, I'm going back and forth from FL to NJ (new grandson in the NICU) I'm toying with the idea of driving up and leaving it with him for a few months to do all of the repairs and generally get it mechanically sound. At least I'd feel assured that it would be done right and honestly for a fair price

 

It wasn't supposed to be as violent as a slap in the face; there's just too many horror stories on here that start "my mechanic said....but now..."

Fortunately my mechanic is me, so I can blame everything on him...

 

No offense taken. Since I don't do any major repairs myself, I have to rely on others. I'm also 70 and in good shape but crawling under a car is not as easy as it used to be.

I appreciate all of the helpful input from everyone with more mechanical knowledge that I possess.

 

a friend of mine owns a local exhaust shop for over 40yrs

they are wizards at replacing or repairing or fabricating anything, up on the hoist, done as fast as you can blink, that's all they do !

You can surely price a complete compliant system for your year XJ from various suppliers off the Internet ? ie Rock Auto, Quadratc, eBay etc etc

I am certain my mate could do a complete XJ system in less than half a day, (not including manifold), so maybe $400 labor + system + freight.

Be surprised if that was more than $2K

I would probably swap the O2 sensors across, at least initially

A really good shop will likely be able to obtain the system for you for roughly the same price, which is better, cause they bear the risk of any fitment issues

By you knowing what price you can obtain a system goes a way to prevent them reaming you out on price

If you are canny, you will ask how many hours to fit a complete system to your Jeep XJ. Ideally they will say X hours, cause they have done them before

 

In my experience, the cats in the manifold, downpipe/ crossover pipe, and the 2nd cat/resonator rarely go bad because the high heat cooks off all the corrosion causing moisture . It is usually from this 2nd cat back being the muffler and tailpipe that usually go bad. My crossover and 2nd cat have almost 310k on them and are still in decent shape. You might be able to get away with just a cat back replacement...couple hundred bucks plus install

 

In 10 years with 3 XJ's I've never known an exhaust need replacing, I've repaired 2 tailpipe mounts, replaced a couple of (original) clamps &, on one, had the hangers welded up.

They've all been removed at least once, for access, usually out in the street, with no real issues (except on the '99, I never have managed to break the joint after the cat. & removing the one-piece system from the '98 would seem to be impossible). Back in the early days I did buy a muffler/tailpipe which I'm sure was under £20 (still have it, can't imagine I'll ever have a use for it).

Oh & rust generally is a problem here in the UK, particularly as my XJ's live out in the open, in one of the wetter counties - & only a couple of miles from the ocean.

 

I didn't have to replace mine until they started using salt on the roads instead of sand.

 

I can well believe that but while salt on the roads (which we still refer to as grit) is not a problem where I am being so close to the ocean there is salt in the air & it's often damp, yet the exhausts have survived better than most of the rest of the underside.