Exhaust leak on pentastar

explorebc4x4

New member
A couple weeks ago I was on a trail and caught my exhaust loop on a rock. Right away noticed that I had an exhaust leak because of the noise. It wasn't too bad at first but now it is slowly getting louder. I crawled underneath and it sounds like it is coming from somewhere near the engine. Im hoping it is just the pipe has separated from the catalytic converter and not the manifold/block :S Also when at idle if I have my heat/ac on, I get exhaust smell in the jeep. When driving at any speed this is not an issue. The Jeep is going in this week for my mechanic to have a look.

Has anybody else had this issue or happen to them? I searched on google but surprisingly couldn't really find anybody who has had this happen with the pentastar. Its a 2012 unlimited sport.

If anybody has any ideas or suggestions/comments they would be very much appreciated!! I hoping this is not a major fix. Im a bit nervous for it to maybe be a cracked exhaust manifold, in which case the whole block would need to be replaced correct?

Thanks in advance!
 

bthomas

Member
Crawl under with a flashlight and have a look around. The "manifold" is cast into the head, so at the VERY worst, it would only be the head, not a whole block. But that being said I really doubt its that serious. I'd be willing to bet that a seam cracked from the stress, or something got simply pushed out of shape, or maybe a gasket got torn or crushed. I don't know if these have that type of sintered? metal crush cone type of gasket like older vehicles or not. It would have to have something to deal with flex and vibration in a few of the joints. A good welder or exhaust shop can weld up a crack easy. I did it with my wife's Altima, the seam at one end of the upstream cat split, almost all the way around. I took it off and had my father in law weld it up, that's been about 4-5 years ago now and still holding up fine. Good luck with it! I'm sure it's something simple.
 

linehand08

New member
I have a 2013 with the new junkstar engine and I also have a serious exhaust leak. i'll say this if its hard to fix or I have to buy a new head that motor is coming out and a 5.3 LS is going in. than I'm putting that terd in a crate and shiping it back to where it came from with a note saying 'try again'. Rant over.
 

explorebc4x4

New member
I have a 2013 with the new junkstar engine and I also have a serious exhaust leak. i'll say this if its hard to fix or I have to buy a new head that motor is coming out and a 5.3 LS is going in. than I'm putting that terd in a crate and shiping it back to where it came from with a note saying 'try again'. Rant over.

Haha. So far I have been happy with it. I love the power it has and I have put 93,000 km on it in 2 years problem free. I really hope it's nothing major.

If I had to rip out the motor to fix it (and I had a money tree in the backyard) I would probably drop a 3.0L diesel in.
 

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Forum member Gregmort had this happen to him as well just recently. I would send him a pm and ask what the dealer told him. It cost him a decent chunk of change I believe
 

GregMort13

Caught the Bug
I had the same thing. Long story short the dealer told me "something came up and dented my crossover pipe and pushed on my y pipe." This stress bent the flange on my exhaust manifold, causing the leak. Had to get the whole exhaust manifold replaced. Jeep was at the dealership for a few days. Total cost was $677 and some change
 

explorebc4x4

New member
I had the same thing. Long story short the dealer told me "something came up and dented my crossover pipe and pushed on my y pipe." This stress bent the flange on my exhaust manifold, causing the leak. Had to get the whole exhaust manifold replaced. Jeep was at the dealership for a few days. Total cost was $677 and some change

Hmmm. Sounds like that could be what I've got goin on. $677 is a lot less than I was expecting. Still a lot, but I thought I was going to be well over the $1000 mark.

Thanks for the input! It's much appreciated. I will post up once I know what it is and what the fix was.
 

GregMort13

Caught the Bug
Anytime. Glad i could help. I also thought i was going to pay a lot more. They tried to replace just the gasket on mine first and didnt charge me for any of that work so i cant complain. If you look at the driverside of your block yourll see the can looking manifold. At the bottom of the connection to the block youll see a "seat" (lacking a better word) where the bottom of the manifold slips in and then has the three bolts on the top end. Mine bent right on that bracket. It actually threw a code on me too.
 

Nigel77

New member
I am pretty sure I have an exhaust leak too. its such pain in the @$$. when I first start my jeep in the morning it is silent. by the time I get to work my jeep sounds like it doesn't have an exhaust system on it. not sure how that its doing that. I am trying to find where its coming from. I have seen some people use the "seafoam trick" on youtube. If I need a new manifold I will be chucking it in the trash and going with Ripp Headers..
 

evilmurph123

New member
Did the same thing and hit my loop pipe on a rock on my 2012 JKU. Heard the leak and noticed that the flange where the catalytic converter meets the head/manifold on the 3.6. Took off the cat and loop pipe, heated it up with an oxy torch and used a shop press to slowly bend it back to straight. Ended up cracking the weld on the flange but had my buddy weld it back up. No problems or leaks since. Quite easy to get the cat and loop in and out. If you don't have the skills or tools to fix it I've seen the assembly around for 250 plus core charge. Not too bad but I'm a complete cheapskate. Good luck!!
 

explorebc4x4

New member
Well, I've got it in getting fixed today. It looks like it was only a gasket. I will know more once it's all done but sounds like it's only going to cost about $200.
 

explorebc4x4

New member
It almost happened again! On the weekend I got hung up on a rock and heard the exhaust leak. But once I was freed up it was gone. Definitely looking at a loop delete kit now.
 
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