# "Your Exhaust Manifold is Leaking…" and I got a second opinion… **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [November 3, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691 "2023-11-03T02:59:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LoudThunder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/loudthunder/32/27769_2.png) [@LoudThunder](https://community.cartalk.com/u/LoudThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/1 "2023-11-03T02:59:02Z")
I have often written about my wife’s '85 Toyota that she bought new and the dealership gave Lifetime Oil and Filter, and State Inspections… I have also written that I prefer to use local business verses Big Box businesses when possible… It’s November and the '85 Toyota and my Ram Truck were both due for state inspections. The Ram has no such lifetime guarantee on it and I do not take it to the Toyota Dealer… I normally use the Auto Hobby Shop on the local Air Force Base. They have a licensed state inspector on staff, so I usually go there, especially when I do my own oil change (2-1/2 Gallons…). The wife said let’s take the Toy there too and have both inspections performed. The Ram passed without issue, but the inspector failed the Toyota, saying the Exhaust Manifold was leaking. Remembering the recent posting of a new member and the problems he had when his exhaust manifold was leaking, I was very concerned. I’m not agile enough anymore to climb in, climb under, and climb over, whatever needed to be removed and the concern of bolts and nuts that have not been touched in the 38-years we’ve been driving this car. When we got home, with our PINK Rejection Sticker. I fired up the engine and used my engine scope and I did not hear any leaking, I partially plug the exhaust pipe and poured some Seafoam into the carburetor and I saw no smoky leaks… So we decide to take our poor old, tired '85 Toyota to the dealer with our Pink Failure Sticker and tell them our sorry story. They said they would check it and sent it to a mechanic who checked every inch of the exhaust system with a Combustion Gas/CO/whatever Detector and found no leaks, they then sent the car over to the their State Inspector and it quickly passed the State Inspection. And they did not charge us for the time spent doing the leak detection and the State Inspection was FREE, Again… Now, this is not to cast aspersions on the other state inspector, but to let folks know that sometimes a second opinion is quite beneficial… Also, Because “Inquiring Minds Want to Know…” If we had been charged for the leak detection, our Toyota Dealership’s mechanic’s base rate is $140.00 an hour… And while going through the Toy’s folder (we keep every receipt… and a gas log book for a ounce that goes into our vehicles) the very first gas that we put into that Toyota, way back in 1985 was 7.8 gallons for $8.25, at $1.05.9 a gallon, don’t that make you cry? So, if that mechanic tells you that engine miss is caused by the timing chain jumping a tooth, get a second opinion… ---
**Author:** ![Renegade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Renegade](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Renegade)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:05am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/2 "2023-11-03T03:05:24Z")
> [@LoudThunder](#): > > way back in 1985 was 7.8 gallons for $8.25, at $1.05.9 a gallon, don’t that make you cry? Yep we will never see that again. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 1:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/3 "2023-11-03T13:44:00Z")
In 2023 that would be $3.03/gallon. Walmart sells Super Tech oil in the 5 gallon jugs for $18.98, or $3.80/gallon. Even in today’s money you got a bargain in the good old days. ---
**Author:** ![Cavell](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cavell/32/43396_2.png) [@Cavell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Cavell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/4 "2023-11-03T15:54:01Z")
Walmart 5 quart jugs might be $18.98 which equals $3.80 per quart. Haven’t seen 5 gal jugs at walmart. You wrote gal twice so you had 2 chances to catch it. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/5 "2023-11-03T19:00:28Z")
I had my Pontiac to the dealer for a recall which they took care of. Then the new kid I hadn’t seen before did his obligatory inspection. The results were a bad rear seal leak and a not so bad front seal leak. Thanks sonny, I’ll think about it. With no loss of oil, and not much on the garage floor, I took it to my indi shop. Put it on the hoist and no big issue except maybe some oil seepage. That was maybe five years ago. They wouldn’t even charge me so I scheduled a plug change in return. So I’m not saying I don’t trust the dealer mechanics but I’m not going to trust.a new kid trying to score points to justify his pay. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/6 "2023-11-03T19:50:34Z")
You’re right, it’s 5 quarts in the bottle. ---
**Author:** ![LoudThunder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/loudthunder/32/27769_2.png) [@LoudThunder](https://community.cartalk.com/u/LoudThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/7 "2023-11-03T19:59:05Z")
> [@bing](#): > > So I’m not saying I don’t trust the dealer mechanics but I’m not going to trust.a new kid trying to score points to justify his pay. Remember this post from so long ago… That State Inspector was long gone by the time I had my State Inspection performed yesterday… > [@Ideas On How My Wife Picked Up a Nail In The Sidewall](https://community.cartalk.com/t/ideas-on-how-my-wife-picked-up-a-nail-in-the-sidewall/190731/22): > > I take my vehicles to the their specific dealers, the Toyotas to the Toyota dealer, the Honda Fit to the Honda dealer, the Ram Truck to the Dodge dealer, all in the hope that their technicians are trained to a level higher than one might find at a generic repair shop; alas it’s not to be… The Midas Brake Shop forgot to put the master cylinder cover back on after refilling the master cylinder after a brake job. A Toyota Dealer did not refill the radiator properly after a radiator flush and the… By the way, we also made a trip to Hardies this morning and bought Sausage and Egg Biscuits for all the service writers and mechanics for the work yesterday… (no charge Exhaust fume leak and State Inspection)… the next time we go in, I do not want them to say, “Not them again…” but “Hey, look whose here…” ---
**Author:** ![keith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/keith/32/5518_2.png) [@keith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/keith)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/your-exhaust-manifold-is-leaking-and-i-got-a-second-opinion/193691/8 "2023-11-03T20:55:37Z")
> [@LoudThunder](#): > > “Not them again…” but “Hey, look whose here…” Well either is better than, “He’s back, call the cops.”