Greetings!
I'm a new member from over at the thunderbird nest forum, this forum is referred to a lot when the mechanics of our birds come up, no one knows the answer to my question there so hoping someone here knows
My thunderbird has developed an exhaust leak at startup that almost goes away after it is warmed up, last week while out of town we had to get an emergency tow to a close by Ford/Lincoln dealer to replace a water pump that came apart, I told them to check the exhaust leak while they had it.
They were very busy and finally got to my car 2 days later, they said my exhaust leak was probably exhaust manifold which would take up to 3 weeks to find one and cost @ $1500 with labor. I told them to just fix the water pump, now my local dealer has been searching for over a week without success to find one
Now my question!
I understand its the same left manifold as the LS uses, I can't find anything on the net or forums with owners having trouble with cracked manifolds, all the advice is its probably the gasket or the donut gasket, if a dealer fixes it I hate to have it torn down first then wait till they find a new manifold if thats what it is, also no auto stores list a donut gasket which I thought I might try first
I'm afraid to drive it now if its the gasket at the head least I mess up the surface, if I let an indepentant mechanic( I haven't used anyone so it would be a chance getting a good one) I would like to get the parts located before I take it in.
(1) are the manifolds pron to cracking or would I be ok buying a used one
(2) does the manifold use a donut to connect to tailpipe? The service manual doesn't mention one under manifold replacement
(3) does anyone know for sure the left manifold is interchangible between t-birds and LS( the used ones I've found are LS's)
Thank you for time
I'm a new member from over at the thunderbird nest forum, this forum is referred to a lot when the mechanics of our birds come up, no one knows the answer to my question there so hoping someone here knows
My thunderbird has developed an exhaust leak at startup that almost goes away after it is warmed up, last week while out of town we had to get an emergency tow to a close by Ford/Lincoln dealer to replace a water pump that came apart, I told them to check the exhaust leak while they had it.
They were very busy and finally got to my car 2 days later, they said my exhaust leak was probably exhaust manifold which would take up to 3 weeks to find one and cost @ $1500 with labor. I told them to just fix the water pump, now my local dealer has been searching for over a week without success to find one
Now my question!
I understand its the same left manifold as the LS uses, I can't find anything on the net or forums with owners having trouble with cracked manifolds, all the advice is its probably the gasket or the donut gasket, if a dealer fixes it I hate to have it torn down first then wait till they find a new manifold if thats what it is, also no auto stores list a donut gasket which I thought I might try first
I'm afraid to drive it now if its the gasket at the head least I mess up the surface, if I let an indepentant mechanic( I haven't used anyone so it would be a chance getting a good one) I would like to get the parts located before I take it in.
(1) are the manifolds pron to cracking or would I be ok buying a used one
(2) does the manifold use a donut to connect to tailpipe? The service manual doesn't mention one under manifold replacement
(3) does anyone know for sure the left manifold is interchangible between t-birds and LS( the used ones I've found are LS's)
Thank you for time
