My 04 F150 5.4 RH exhaust manifold has recently developed the infamous leak and has been getting progressively worse.
Lately I have been using this truck as a company truck to help my boss out until he gets us a new shop truck & he has been compensating me accordingly (Paying for fuel etc) When I bought up to him my problem with the leaking exhaust manifold he said he would gladly cover the cost of having it repaired... at a small local tune up shop owned by a friend of his.
If it were up to me I would normally (painfully) shell out the extra cash to take it to the dealership seeing as I have heard what a pain these can be to replace with studs breaking etc.

Long story short, would it be better if this were repaired by the dealership, or is this something that any run of the mill repair shop could repair properly?

 

I'd find out if the shop had done one before.

 

If it were mine I'd have a dealer do it so that it would be warranted. I wouldn't want to put me or my supvr. in a bad position if his repair shop messed it up.

 

There are competent mechanics that own or work out of small shops.....talk to him and see what he has to say.....

 

+1, talk to the guy who will be working on your truck. Just because it's a dealership doesn't mean the guy who actually does the work knows what he's doing.

 

x 2

 

I have a small shop that I go to and the guy worked @ FORD for 10 years and went to replace my passenger manifold gasket and it had been leaking for so long that it warped the manifold itself...he planed it as much as he could...still there but no where near as bad. Some of the best mechanics IMO...work at these tiny shops.

 

thanks for your input, I agree that some of the small shops definately are superior to dealerships because alot of small shops have an automotive passion & take pride in their work. However, in this case I think I have to look for another shop or go with the dealership as the shop my boss wants to send it to is a Midas (wasn't aware of this originally), while I have nothing against Midas, I stopped in to talk with the owner (my bosses friend) to see if this was something they were familiar with repairing & the common problems these particular manifolds pose etc etc, I got alot of attitude and bad feeling observing the disorganization & the 'punks' that were goofing off in the shop. I look at it this way, the Ford truck dealership techs probably deal with this manifold problem every week and know what a pain it can be & have a process to it to make it as painless for them as possible, while this little midas shop might not be aware of this process and I end up having to pulling a head or something. So I will continue searching for a small shop that would be interested in taking on the job & taking my money, as I would rather give my money to the little guy. As a last resort I'll take it to the dealership.

 

the manifolds are short money, either from Ford. or Dorman has them aftermarket.

the problem is the studs go bad, they rot away which is the cause of most of the leaks.

if you think the spark plugs are an issue, try removing the steel studs from an aluminum head in the vehicle.

if you have to drill them out and re-tap them in the truck, you better be a pretty god tech with some decent drills and bits.

make sure there are studs there to fasten the manifold with.