[ColdSteel]

yeah i know. factory exhaust. its my mom's car

2004 mustang convertible 3.8 auto

the exhaust pipe that goes up to the manifold seems to have come off or god forbid has been blown off. i cant really get a good view of it cause there are heat shields everywhere but has anyone ever had this problem? will a fix simply be as easy as a parts store run or am i gonna be dumping dollars at the muffler shop

-sigh- i wanna get it fixed today or shes gonna be driving mine for awhile.

[GreenFaleen]

at the manifold or at the mid pipe? should just bolt up whereever it came off. just go to an exhaust shop and have them fix it it sould be no more thatn 30 bucks

[ColdSteel]

its at the manifold. thats what i was thinking is it just bolts on but how does that just unbolt itself? i can fix it if that be the case.

[04DSGV6]

I'm pretty sure that was a non-recall major issue for our mustangs. That water builds up in the manifold and rusts out. I think it was JASonic that had this problem recently.

[GreenFaleen]

exhaust bolts are hard to get out if your doing it yourself I would think they were sheared off but if it is the bolts yeah you can buy some and put them on but itll be easier and probably just has much to have a shop do it

[ColdSteel]

04DSGV6 i looked for that thread, its almost the exact problem im having. he also had it covered in the 8/80k emissions warranty plan. im going to call some local dealerships on monday and see if i cant get it fixed for free. thanks guys.

[Dansby]

Thats exactly whats happening. The water leaking from the AC lands on the passenger side headers and eats away at it. Happened to me a year ago or so. If the dealership wont fix it, take it to a local shop. Make sure it is done right though. If it's not, it can be a pain down the road. The guy that fixed mine screwed up royally-not noticable after being fixed-but noticable when I went to put my aftermarket exhaust on. The bolt holding the header in place was crooked so they had to get another shop to drill it out. HUGE pain.

[ColdSteel]

haha im not worried about it being done right. its moms car, it needs to be drivable until the 2010 comes out. i dont want her to burn up the valves so i wont let her drive it to work and what not until its fixed. but i did find a complete pdf on what is and is not covered in the 8/80k, manifolds and cats are covered in it. i got my drop light and got a real good look at where its broken at (look meaning i didn't take apart or touch anything), its not at the manifold, it looks like its down inside a catalytic converter...im not sure if it is a cat, cause there's another long one on the underside of the car...is there something like a 2 stage cat system on these mustangs? or a heat shield disguised as one. im not familiar with them at all.


it sounds like a freaking harley at idle, and a rice burner under acceleration, which just wont do. i cant wait till monday lol.

[goren813]

Take off the exhaust and have a weldshop fix it up.. cost me $30. . . It's exactly the problem that had been stated already, it separates right before the cat, you can leave the headers on... it was me and JaSonic that had to deal with this... me twice.

[04mustang232]

buy her LTs

[Triple A]

Originally Posted by jhonda yeah

yeah what?

[ColdSteel]

skipped on the weld shop/muffler shop idea lol.

picked it up this morning. dealership fixed it under 8/80k emissions warranty. they replaced the whole H pipe converter assembly. so if anyone else is has this problem take it to a dealer, 30 bucks isint much but free is better, plus time saved. local dealership gave me a courtesy vehicle to drive too!

[04mustang232]

Originally Posted by ColdSteel skipped on the weld shop/muffler shop idea lol. picked it up this morning. dealership fixed it under 8/80k emissions warranty. they replaced the whole H pipe converter assembly. so if anyone else is has this problem take it to a dealer, 30 bucks isint much but free is better, plus time saved. local dealership gave me a courtesy vehicle to drive too!

nice job.

Is that paint on ur car in ur avi?

[goren813]

Yeah us who had the problem previously were out of the warranty range

[JASonic]

Nice to hear you got that resolved Cold. They did fix my mid but my manifold is now cracked. I will refrain from blaming it on the dealer at this point. Im in the process of putting long tubes on now... or at least trying to decide if I want to put the money into it.