So I just got a 94 cherokee sport, and it has a nasty exhaust leak, and it came with a brand new manifold and gasket, and the guy claimed the leak was coming from there, not the exhaust, im trying to figure out if its only possible to do it from the engine bay and not underneith, and how aggrivating it is to do. any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

I am also looking to do this on my 96' sport, I have a crack almost clean through the damn thing haha. I will let ya know if i find anything, consider this a free bump 2 posts up to the top

 

i think mine might be the gasket or something because you can smell my jeep before you can hear it haha

 

if it is the collector i would just take it off and meet up with a buddy who can weld and re weld it, then while you have it off replace the gasket. that will solve any problems that might be leaking in that area. It will also give you a chance to clean up your intake

 

here's the direction for '99. might be slight bit different for other years.
1 DISCONNECT BATTERY.
remove air intake box, remove intake tube from tb, disconnect throttle lines, remove throttle line bracket, remove fuel rail, remove auxilary fan, unbolt power steering pump---do not disconnect lines, just lay it where the air intake box was, get under truck take off downpipe flange bolts, take upper bolts from intake manifold, get under truck take off lower bolts from exhaust manifold, replace, work backwards.

 

before you weld it drill a small hole at each end of the crack before you reweld it. seems to help stop it from happening again as soon

headers are getting cheap on ebay also

 

re-welding is only a temporary fix. it will crack again eventually.
The best solution I know of is to buy one of the cheap manifolds with flex-joints on Ebay.

 

In order to do it you have to remove the intake manifold and all the fun stuff connected to it. On the 1991 to 1999 Jeep cherokee's are known to have a cracked header. If your going to replace the manifold/header i would suggest http://www.ineedparts.com/auto-parts/exhaust-parts/exhaust-manifolds/jeep-exhaust-manifold.html Its a nice part for the right price

Here are some write ups that may help you

http://www.jeepingsingles.net/tech/manifold.asp
http://www.cherokeetalk.com/forum/f6...p-header-4171/
http://www.indyjeepblog.com/index.ph...-installation/ (<-- currently not working for me)

Here is a video on how to do it as well


-Mike

 

you bastard! I may actually have to go buy one of those now...the longer collector tubes would help with torque and its not $500+ dollars like most torque tube headers....

OH! and its basically the same exact thing as a banks torque tube header. I think that upgraded steering and Sway bar disconnects can wait in favor of a new exhaust manifold.....

 

APN headers. u can't go wrong with them. i love mine. lifetime warranty. i can't say that i gained a ton of power, but i could tell a difference.

 

I'm not looking for a TON of power gain...but I'm pretty sure my exhaust manifold is cracked. then again my whole exhaust needs to be ripped out and re-done. thing is bent to hell.

 

I Have had mine rewelded once, i have put 14,000 on it and most with a bad motor and trans mount and it no cracks in it. As long as you welded it right and get a good seal on it there should be no problem and yes the AP headers are a good bang for your buck

 

I agree that welding it properly will help however it won't solve the problem that the stock headers are crap and not properly designed to allow them to expand and contract with the engine as it goes through warming cycles. There's a reason so many cars have cast iron blocks and cast iron exhaust manifolds.

 

I got my new header for free so I'm good haha

 

Hahaha well you will deffenetly be happy with it, its a great part and comes with the gasket and everything.
Just a note on the 1999 cherokees since they upgraded the intake manifold on that year you will have to shave off about 1/8" + on the back of the intake manifold in order for it to fit. Took me a bit to figure that out
But since ZachXJ i see you have a 1991 you will be fine, its just the 1999.

-Mike