Exhaust Manifold Leak

[Orange&White]

I have a 2001 Nissan Frontier (V6). It failed inspection today due to a small leak in the left exhaust manifold. The leak is not visable due to heat plates and various parts.

The dealer says about $480 + is what I should expect to pay, mainly for labor because so much stuff needs to be pulled in order to access the area.

Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Could this just be a bad gasket? Could it be a crack? Does $500 sound reasonable? What would a typical turnaround time on this procedure run?

Anyones advice/ comments are welcome, especially accuratehorn.

 

[wherzwaldo]

I have a 1997 Pathfinder that had a cracked right manifold when I bought the car about 3 years ago. I had Auto Analysis check out the car before I bought it, and the guy said that it is a chronic thing with some Nissan models, and that I should expect the left manifold to develop a crack at some point. So far so good.

I think I paid around $500-600 to get it fixed, so the price you were given sounds reasonable. I got the car back in a couple of days, but that may have been because I also had them fixing a lot of other stuff (warped brake rotors, small oil leak, new belts including timing belt, and a few other things).

 

[accuratehorn]

I checked AllData information system at my shop, and there is a technical service bulletin about a redesigned exhaust manifold for the right exhaust manifold, which apparently tends to crack, but nothing about the left side.
The labor is about $190, and the parts about $120 if the left one is cracked at my shop (according to the computer estimate program). It could be the manifold, the gasket between the manifold and the cylinder head, or the gasket between the bottom of the manifold and the exhaust pipe. There might even be an EGR pipe attached to it that could be the actual problem once the shields are removed.
The labor on the right side is less, so there must be more stuff attached on the left side that has to be removed.
The worst possible scenario would be broken studs that hold the manifold to the cylinder head. Sometimes the nuts just vibrate loose, and you need a new gasket.

 

[Orange&White]

Thanks to everyone for the input.

Accuratehorn, check your pm's